(Disclaimer/Intro: A preaching professor of mine talked about how in some churches you could close your eyes during the sermon and never know there was a woman in the room. The preacher uses football and hunting illustrations and thinks they connect with everyone. That particular criticism is why I hesitate to use two racquetball illustrations in a row. But it's a really good one. So here goes.)
Last night our doubles team won three games out of five. For me, playing racquetball with tournament-level older guys, to win that much is a really big deal. They have brought my game up considerably. But last night, something changed.
As my game gets better, I am noticing how the other players are starting to get on to me more about unforced errors. They make them as well. And they get on to each other. But that's what changed last night. I graduated to the level of getting into trouble for making mistakes.
Six months ago it was a different story. I was rusty, and had not played in years. Certainly not at that level. When I made a bad play or decision, it was easy to dismiss as a "new guy" error. (I am still convinced, by the way, that I went through a "new guy" hazing period, and I have the bruises to prove it.)
But now that I am actually starting to win, I can no longer fall back on my "new guy" status.
And guess what that made me think about?
When new people come to the Christian faith, we treat them a certain way. They are easy to forgive when they make naive mistakes. We would never dream of treating new Christians as harshly as we treat one another who have a longer standing in the church. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. In fact, the more I thought about the analogy last night, the more it fell apart.
To a certain extent, one would expect a Christian who has 30 years of faith experience to behave differently than a newcomer. But if it is true that all of us sin and fall short of the glory of God, then what role does "experience" play in Christianity? I would like to tell you that all seasoned Christians act differently than newcomers. And I would tell you that, were it true. But it's not. Anyone with church under the belt knows that some of the regulars can behave at times like mean high school girls. It is also the case that some newcomers with their zeal for the freshly discovered story behave better than us oldtimers. Maybe it's a case of taking grace for granted.
Or maybe we just get lazy.
When I was a new Christian, when I sinned, I would say, "I should'a known better."
Yesterday, as a Christian now for over two decades, when I sinned, I said, "I should'a known better."
And that's where the racquetball analogy crumbles. While we are expected to mature as Christians being shaped and being redeemed, there is an element of God's grace in our lives that goes beyond what we can learn and perfect. For if I ever got to a point where I mastered Christianity, God would be disposable.
And that, dear bloggerland brothers and sisters, is how we waste so much energy in the church treating it like just another competition.
