May 6th, 2007
The Budding Gardener
“But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like.”
John 2:24-25
If you had stopped by my house Thursday you would have seen me out in the backyard “spring cleaning” all the leaves, branches, and already-growing weeds from a flower bed. Actually, it’s not a flower bed, it’s a “mint bed”. Peppermint to be exact. Well, I must admit, my gardening skills are still in the “budding” stage and I wasn’t quite sure which plants were mint and which were weeds. So, there I was when Caleb came out, with my nose to the ground, smelling the small stems sticking up from the ground.
“What are you doing, Mommy?”
“Smelling these little plants to see if they are mint or weeds”
“OK”
Then he proceeded to dig and play near me while I continued smelling the small plants. Never once did he question my methods because, in his mind, his mom knew what she was doing! He thinks his mom knows about gardening, and so he trusts that my actions are the correct ones. How easily we can fool people!
However, we can’t fool Jesus. At the end of John 2 (vs. 32) it states that, “Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.” Because of what Jesus did, because of his actions and his wondrous signs, people put their trust in him. The next verse? “But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like.”
Do you ever wonder what Jesus thinks of you as he watches you, hears your inner thoughts and observes your actions? Seems like at some point he would throw in the towel with a mutter, “She’s really gone and done it this time. I cannot count on her for anything. I just need her to stand by me this one time, but no, she has to go and goof it up again.” But this verse makes it pretty clear that God puts no trust in humans. He knows us too well to bank his whole plan for life on our actions. If he wanted to, he could have huge expectations for us and then thoroughly condemn us because we are not living up to some amazing ideal. However, just a few verses later in John 3:18, Jesus states emphatically that He did not come into the world to set us up for failure. Isn’t it more than a little reassuring that he is not looking to condemn us, because he already has a VERY clear picture of who we are? He has no high expectations of our moral stature. He loves us even though he knows who we really are. In spite of our consistently letting him down, not loving that person we are supposed to, not forgiving that person who asked us for forgiveness, not having the patience we should with that coworker or not supporting someone who has physical needs. That takes a lot of love – to know who we really are and yet to say that he loves us anyway. Thank you, God.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Ironically, this is something I have been struggling with this entire past week. Having been totally betrayed by somebody a family member that I am very close to - and I just cannot find it in me to see their reasoning for their actions, point of view, etc - enough to let it go and honestly say “I forgive you and lets move on from here”. I’m so aggravated with myself for not being able to find that forgiveness in me, then adding the guilt of disappointing HIM for the thoughts/feelings I have been having towards this person. I want to set a good example for my girls who have been watching me struggle with this for the past week - and I know if it were THEM, I’d have all kinds of speeches prepared on how to handle the situation. I guess I’m just hoping that by distancing myself from this person for a bit - that HE will help me dispell some of the anger & hurt into something productive.. and understand that I am as disappointed with myself as HE must be.
Ever wish you had some sort of immunity spell to temporarily shield your darkest thoughts/feelings from the one that matters most? *cheesy grin*
*whew* Good post Tami
May 8th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Amanda, Thank you so much for sharing. I think your situation is something that we all struggle with, although obviously not every situation is the same. It is so hard to move onto the forgiveness stage - because we are human and have emotions that well up even if we don’t want them to. I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but just to encourage you - I think you are doing well because you are struggling. If you just “swept it under the carpet”, then that would be ignoring those thoughts and, my guess is, a “bitter root” would take hold and continue to grow. God says that we need to grant forgiveness to others (since he gave forgiveness to us), but that is soooo hard! One suggestion I will give (not that you have to take it! lol), is to make the decision to fogive (knowing that those unwanted anger/hurt feelings will still surface), and then actually start praying for that other person. Find something to thank God about for that other person, and persistantly, daily thank God for that one aspect of that person. Also, you can turn the decision into action and actually try to do something nice for the person - whether you really want to or not! Well, as you said, it is easy to give advice, but very difficult to implement it into our lives. I will be praying with you as you struggle!