Good News For Youth (GNFY) published under the oversight of the Alkire Rd Church of Christ elders and posted by permission of the editor.
Others'
MistakesWe can do that, or else think the worst, assign bad motives, etc. Which we do probably says more about us than the man who erred. If our blunders and mistakes are not all purposeful or evil, why should we act as though others' are? Love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (I Corinthians 13:7).
Need I say more on this point?
If we are disposed to reject someone or what he advocates, any miscue on his part may be just the ticket we are looking for to vindicate our rejection. Is this not why politicians make so much of their opponents' errors? Honesty compels us to differentiate misstatements from erroneous positions. Galatians 4:4 does not say that Christians can fall from grace. Galatians 5:4 says they can, and that is the truth on the subject.
Others'
MistakesWhat is there about us that makes others' mistakes feed our egos? We feel bigger when others look smaller. I am not talking about comfort that comes from knowing I am not the only one who goofs. I am thinking of glorification of self at others' expense, a perverted analysis that may even lead to delight in others' fumbles. The problem in such cases is, we are using the wrong standard. Jesus - perfect Jesus - is the pattern (I Peter 2:21). By that measure, none of us has room to boast.
The preacher saw neighbors working to outdo each other. Another man saw it, too, and decided since so many work from bad motives, he wouldn't work at all! That lazy man was a self-deceived fool (Ecclesiastes 4:4-6). So is the man who says he won't become a Christian because he knows some hypocrites in the church. So are all of us who use someone else's shortcomings to justify ours.
How should we
respond?Obviously, how we respond to others' mistakes depends on many things, not the least of which is what kind of a mistake it is.
And that may call for rebuke -- gently, please, especially at first, the intention is to correct the mistake and restore the mistaken one (Galatians 6:1).
Again, when you can, begin by "they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly", as Aquila and Priscilla did Apollos (Acts 18:26). Use more public and stronger measures only when appropriate.
-– Joseph Chase, March 2002 –-
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