Short Comings?

Recently I discovered a really, really, REALLY great band (who will remain nameless) and started to listen to their tunes on YouTube almost non-stop this week. Today, I came across some footage of the band at a show that really bummed me out. The lead singer, a self-professed Christian, was being taunted by someone in the audience. The singer started in on the guy with some seriously colorful language then the guitarist vulgarly taunted him. Then they brought the guy on stage and offered him the choice to either be punched in the face or leave...

Now I admit, that is sort of funny, but certainly not Godly.

The more I think about it, the more it bugs me. Partly because the singer is known as ”that Christian guy I such-and-such band...” but moreover because I suppose that I naively assumed that people still treat one another with dignity and respect. To turn the other cheek. To not let the jerks get the best of them. Now, someone might say, “Well, lets talk about your short comings!?” Indeed, and that is the other thing that is bugging me. I will be the first to tell you that (at least at times) I easily rank up with Samson, Peter, and Judas (in no particular order).

As Derek Webb once spun:

My life looks good I do confess, you can ask anyone
just don’t ask my real good friends
because they will lie to you
or worse, they’ll tell the truth

This is not to say that I am deliberate and flagrant hypocrite. Simply to note my own imperfections. I have always been clear with my friends, and my church that I have failed many times in my walk with God and will fail many more. As it is written:

For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again,
But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.
Prov 24:16 (NASB)

A wise man once pointed out to me that the righteous man is not one who does not fall, but one who continues to rise again in God's strength (a sort of moral resurrection). I have had a rough few days. Truth be told, I did not entirely realize how rough they had been until today. So, to my wife and anyone else who has endured the brunt of my inadequacies, please know that I am sorry.

So what does all this have to do with that band? I don't know. I guess that I am ashamed that I would appreciate/support a band that were a bunch of jerks (the same reason my hands will shake if I punch the chad for Mr. McCain, you know, he seems like a real jerk sometimes...) . Maybe these are ways that God continually opens my eyes to the lostness of this world, that is, by my own sin and the sins of others. Perhaps at bottom the issue is that I should be as shocked/disappointed at my own sin. Funny how our sins are always more respectable and less severe than the sins of others (although I don't feel like I struggle there as much as I used to).

A friend has pointed out how readily we might preach against “despicable sins” (and there ARE degreesi) while leaving ours “respectable sins” untouched. Then, there are those (Augustine?) who use the pulpit or the Sunday School to lapse into some sort of physco-epiphinal catharsis. But ultimately, we should revel in the grace of God. That He chose to rescue us. To redeem and save us. To wash us up. God knows that I need it.

So, I guess it is a good thing that I had that disappointing moment, my own and seeing the singer blow it. Maybe, just maybe, it will help me keep my act together. In the meantime, I will stare into the mirror of the Word and hope that I can bear what I see a little more each day. God, help me to be as patient with myself as You are. Amen.