One of the many words of wisdom my Dad has passed onto me was this:
‘Just remember son, civilisation is only skin deep.’
So, what did he mean by that? Basically, because of his study of various wars throughout the centuries, what he meant was that the ugly side of human nature isn’t very far beneath the surface of each one of us. The book ‘The Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding graphically illustrates this, and we don’t have to watch much reality TV these days to see those sorts of attitudes in the raw. For me, I have seen this manifest itself in so many ways, both in me personally and in the world we all inhabit.
I was told of something that happened the other day at a petrol station during the latest panic for petrol which brought this home to me. There were a load of vehicles queued outside this petrol station, the drivers were getting angry and stressed with everyone and everything. However, the most insane part of this was that a petrol tanker arrived to make a delivery. As a result of drivers refusing to make any room to let him onto the forecourt for him to do this, the driver was left with no choice but to turn around and head off and not make his delivery. Consequently, the petrol station ran dry the next day.
For me this was so redolent of the reasons people are so reluctant to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus, it appears they have too much to lose in this world. Just like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22. He went away from Jesus sad as he had too much to lose materially. I imagine that quite a lot of us have come across people who appear to be standing at the very cusp where they are about to make a commitment to Jesus but turn away at the last moment – the cost is too much.
Now compare that with Jesus, the very Son of God takes on frail humanity and just before going to the cross He stoops down to wash the feet of His disciples. We too as believers in Christ have been made clean from sin in the sight of God, as He tells Peter when Peter insists that Jesus wash him from head to toe. That is not to say we don’t stray off the path, we walk through this world with in all its brokenness and from time to time we pick up its behaviours and attitudes that do not align with scripture, just in the same way that sandalled feet pick up dust and dirt. I feel that Jesus gives us a twofold example here of not only how we are to ask God to put His finger on those areas of our life that need God’s correction but also us to be accountable to each other to live lives more like the Jesus we follow. Rarely is such correction a pleasant thing when it happens, but in retrospect it was the right thing.
What we need to do is to let Jesus into those areas of our lives (just like the tanker should have been let in) as it will be to our benefit and ultimately to the benefit of those we come into contact with each day as they seen Christ reflected in our lives.
Image Credit: Ben White via Unsplash
