Created in God’s image as we all are. Photo by The Delta Bohemian
By PONTIFICUS MINIMUS
How often does Pontificus, who surely knows better, refer to someone as being a piece of crap? Too often!
Doth he dare speak so ill of one crafted in the image of the Holy? Are we not all created in God’s image? Should one for whom Christ died be maligned by another birthed in sin?
There are people the world over, who without the assistance of faith, still forgive their oppressors for egregious and life-altering transgressions, yet Pontificus struggles with deeming others unfit to continue their earthly existence for offenses as minor as standing in the middle of a Wal-Mart aisle, while braying into a Bluetooth device at the top of their lungs. Okay, there he goes again, getting all worked up over the little stuff.
The aisle squatters may be as unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven as is Pontificus, but they are still made in God’s image, are recipients of God’s common and specific grace, and are deeply loved by the same Creator who daily, hourly, and often minutely forgives the multitude of our sins at our request and His bequest.
Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”
Jesus did not mince words. He was emphatic when He encouraged His followers to extend the same grace to others as had been extended to them.
When Pontificus judges others unjustly or unwisely, it is frightening the speed at which he makes a similar mistake. We are encouraged to “take heed lest we fall,” particularly when we think we stand a bit too tall. Pride does indeed come before a fall, and when we are puffed up with our own “goodness,” we are indeed ripe for a fall.
I often wonder when I judge someone for something inane they did, why I so quickly make a similar mistake in an area where I had not previously recognized weakness. It is because God likely removes some of His grace–the very grace that had kept me from acting as I should not have without it.
In the movie Rob Roy, Liam Neeson’s character told his sons, “You must never mistreat a woman or malign a man, nor stand by and see another do so.”
This is excellent advice and Pontificus would do well to heed the Scottish highlander’s admonition.
The actions of the few and the many may be described in modern parlance as being “crap,” but let not the opiner get comfortable calling one of God’s children a “piece of crap,” even when they are in the middle of the aisle, belly full of inertia and communing with the mother ship via the “blueteefs.” Lord help me!
Your Comments are encouraged.
Most excellent advice Pontificus. This is a daily struggle for many of us. I would lend you a quote I recently opined. “We can be no more self deprecating than when we hold contempt for others.”