One recent Wednesday night at church, as I was ushering at the front door, a car drove into the church driveway and then did a U-turn on the lawn. I wondered if it was a prank. I ran out to the car and asked the driver what he was doing. The car sped off. I was angry with the driver for doing a U-turn on the lawn, as some deep ruts had been made.
As I walked back, I noticed that I could barely walk. One leg hurt a lot. I was concerned because it felt like an injury I’d had in the same leg 30 years prior. It had taken over a year to get better, though I admit I had not prayed about it then.
That night, as I sat in church, I realized that my thoughts about the driver needed correction. I knew that God did not see him as a bad person. God loved the driver, and God saw him as His harmless, sinless, and good child. If I couldn’t see that about the driver, how could I ever see that about myself? How could I claim my own perfection as God’s likeness, if I was unable to see the driver’s first?
