Spring has finally sprung here in beautiful Harrison, Arkansas. I'm finally able to do my daily walk around our beautiful creek that runs through downtown. I've been anxiously waiting for my sparrows to return to my house, but they are in full force at the creek. I usually make my way to the walking path around six in the morning just before the sun comes out, and I get greeted with the songs of birds as they celebrate a new day. A couple of days ago as I was walking along a portion of the path that just had some new landscaping done I watched a robin pulling at an earthworm that must have made the mistake of being to close to the surface. To make matters worse, a couple of sparrows caught sight of the struggle and decided to help the robin out. Well actually I think they were trying to steal the worm from the robin. The robin was dancing around trying to fend off the sparrows while at the same time trying to hold onto the hapless worm. It was one of the few times I was feeling sorry for the robin. "Cut the little robin some slack!" I thought to myself. A few seconds later the robin took to the wing wrestling about half of the worm from the sparrows as he flew away. I guess half of a worm is better than no worm at all.
Later on that day, I was watching the highlights of a WNBA game, and how the refs weren't calling fouls for a certain player. The commentary went something like; 'the refs will blow the whistle against her if she even gets close to another player, but they'll let other players assault her all day long. When are they gonna cut her some slack?' Suddenly my mind went back to the robin and the two sparrows. What does cutting someone some slack even mean?
So, I looked it up. I figured it had to be a nautical term, which it is. It comes from when a ship is being moored to a dock. A man on the ship will usually throw a thin line tied to the mooring lines to a dock worker, who will grab the line and begin pulling the line toward himself. Once the mooring line begins to be pulled from the ship it becomes a difficult task because the mooring lines are usually very heavy, and hard to pull. The dock worker would yell out 'cut me some slack' which meant to play out a little bit of line as the worker pulled it toward the dock. It simply means to make the line slack, or loose so that it is easier to pull. Eventually, someone used the term as a call to leniency, or 'grace'. AND, so we use it today.
Everyone of us want to be cut some slack at some point in our lives. We hope that we will be given grace whenever we make mistakes, or fall short of expectations. To a degree most people will be lenient, or gracious when dealing with someone who has failed. Mostly because we would want to be given grace ourselves. It sounds kind of selfish, but it's not. It is what God expects of us. Everything from the ten commandments, down to the sacrifice of His son is Him given us some slack. He gave us instructions how to deal with those that injure us, or those who take from us, or those who lie to us. While God's law gets a bad rap from modern Christians, actually, it is meant to help us cool our jets before we do or say rash things that can't be undone, or unsaid. Then when Jesus came, he tried to point out to the religious leaders of the day how hard they'd become in not giving people grace (slack) while living loose and free with the law themselves. (It's an age old problem that has been around from the creation of man.) Enter Christianity, and the law is replaced with...law...again. Suddenly you aren't a Christian if you are doing...whatever you are doing. I remember when I was a young man attending a denomination that made it a sin to go to movies, attend football games, dance, or wear jewelry. Believe me, it was a tough pull. It still amazes me when I point out how draconian this kind of belief system is, how people will point out that it had its good points. No, it didn't!! Somehow we have this idea that God has no slack or leniency when dealing with us. I'm like, excuse me!! Did I miss something in the story of Jesus? Somebody please show me in the word of God where there is a time limit on God's grace? How often are we allowed to fail living up to His standards before He throws us away? This kind of rigid mindset is just as bad as the mindset that says you can do anything you want to do and still be a Christian. A matter of fact, I tremble when I think I might be cut out of God's presence as I write this. Because in my minds eye, I'm seeing people who I've known over the years who cut off a struggling believer because of a sin they were caught in. It makes me angry at those arrogant, self-righteous, pontificating, prideful....oops!
Some people never grow out of their weakness despite loving God, and believing in Christ. Think about the worst sin you can imagine, but have never done. I guarantee you that not soon after you begin to think on it, Holy Spirit will begin to convict you of a 'lesser' sin that you still do to this day.
Do I believe in personal Holiness? Yes, I do. BUT, I'm glad that God is patient with me as I walk through those things He wants to remove. Some sins are visible and affect others. Some sins are invisible and affect God. You may not like what I have to say, but when we announce to people what we avoid, what we are not like, we become like the Pharisee that Jesus pointed out who thanked God that he was not like that 'other' man.
Like I said earlier, I don't know how long we have to give grace to, or cut some slack to another believer, but I'd sure hate to be the one who cut someone off before God was done. Because over my adult life, I've seen drug addicts come to church stoned time after time, and then one day they are miraculously delivered. I've seen alcoholics stumble into church crying their eyes out for forgiveness, only to find deliverance. I've seen sex addicts seek God Sunday after Sunday to finally break free after years of promiscuity. Yet, as bad as all these are, I've never seen someone come up and ask God to release them from gossiping, or lying, or even stealing.
The things that I've wrestled with over the years are the invisible sins. In my self-righteous spirit, I've put down so many others who are fighting visible sins and wondered why they weren't delivered. I want deliverance for myself every time Holy Spirit points out something I need to clean up. I would hope to be given slack if I confess my sins to my brothers. I would want them to pray for me and hold me up in love.
So when do we give up on the weaker brother? How much slack do we give someone? How many times do we give our brother slack?
When the ship is safely tied off at the pier, and Holy Spirit says all is tight.
