Harry: So you got fired again, eh?
Lloyd: Oh yeah. They always freak out when you leave the scene of an accident, you know?
Harry: Yeah, well, I lost my job too.
Lloyd: Man, you are one pathetic loser. No offense.
We've been moving into a house that we never moved out of! How crazy is that? Mike has spent his vacation (I don't think we should call it that) building floor to ceiling shelves in our living room to house all of our favorite treasures (our books) and we are finding space here and there to make our space functional and beautiful. So, we have been working! The other day we were cleaning out under our bed and Mike found his old VHS tapes...that sounds like they were bad...they were old movies that he recorded when he would have cable at random...wow that sounds even worse! Bill Cosby Himself (so funny) So I Married and Ax Murderer and Dumb and Dumber...just to name a few. So, we snuggled up the other night to watch a fuzzy Dumb and Dumber. The exchange between Harry and Lloyd over losing their jobs cracks me up. How does Lloyd NOT believe that HE is a pathetic loser? Only poor Harry. I know how...the plank and the speck.
It's the ole' I can see your sin because I have the same stinkin' mess going on in my own heart. I can see the faults of others pretty clearly and as soon as the Lord reveals their sin to me (when I've got my judgement face on) I realize, "Oh man, it must be in my life too! UGH!" Recently we've been dealing with a lot of sin in our home. I know, huge surprise! Just spirits of ingratitude and always wanting just a little teeny bit more than what they've been given. The boy has been being the typical older brother that ANNOYS the stew out of us sisters. Just blah. Really...blah.
How do we miss it? How is it that we forget so quickly what we smelled like when we were pulled out of the mud and mire? How quickly does the cross only apply to those that are really bad off? Prostitutes and drug dealers are the only ones that really need a Savior. Not gossipy, controlling, church folk. I get to a place where everything is going well and I start calling others pathetic losers (obviously not to their face! DUH) not realizing the irony of the statement. It takes one to know one doesn't it?
You know what else? It goes the other way, too. When my sin is all too evident and I know my need, I can see that someone else is redeemed and an heir to the throne of God, but I act like an orphan begging for scraps outside the temple. That is probably just as unhealthy.
You know the solution? The Gospel. All day every day. The Gospel. The truth that I have pathetic loser tendencies and without Christ I'm on the road to dumb and dumber. With Christ I am more than victorious and a child of the Living God. I was bought at a price and redeemed by the Son. So, if you know me and you ever think I'm judging you...you can remind me of the stank that I came from. You can point me to the Cross where my own sin and sorrow were laid down, then let's walk to the tomb. Let's look inside. Let's search like Mary did to find her precious Lord. Let's listen for Him to call us by name and let's glory in the truth that we are not who we were...and it's all for His glory.
