Speaking up

My son was about 8 years old and had invited a neighborhood buddy to come over and play. The two of them found all kinds of boyish fun to pass the time. They were excited for the chance to be outside following a week of intermittent rainfall. After about an hour in the back yard I heard a thump ...thump ... thump on the side wall of my house. I stepped out to request they stop bouncing a ball off the bricks only to find my son sitting on the grass quietly,his friend saying"watch me " with muddy hands and another dirt clod about to be launched. I asked the boy to leave and sent my son in to the house. I was furious.

I took a deep breath and looked my boy in the eyes,"what were you thinking to allow your house to become target practice for the neighbors!" He had only one answer" I didn't throw anything, see my hands are clean". I replied" that's what you think! Now go out and hose off my house, after that you can sit in your room and think about what happened!"

An important lesson was gained by my son that day. One that I too must process from time to time. This lesson can at times be applied to my church life, my home life, my work life, and my social life. When others are acting wrongly and you are complacent with it, you are just as responsible! My son wanted to know why he was being disciplined, why I had not corrected his friend or gone to the childs mother to make him clean it up! "Because you didn't tell him to stop!

How many times do we see injustice, how often do we assume others will step in and repair inequity? The one who did the damage should do the time. Right! WRONG! We all suffer when we remain silent against wrong doers. We all relegate his neighbor to their own defense. We all water down our responsibility to uphold righteous intervention.

Are you your brothers keeper? You bet you are! You may not feel comfortable with the disassociation that comes with making hard calls, but you will find more confidence and favor, not to mention the model you present to those who need to learn this stregnth. Proverbs 14:9 says"Fools don't care if they do wrong, but God is pleased when people do right".

We are to be God pleasing, not man pleasing in our view of justice.