I just left Dallas to spend the weekend in the big city of Atlanta… Texas. Yes, there is an Atlanta, Texas and it’s a nice, small, Southern town with a true family feel. Before heading out of town, we stopped at a gas station to fuel up and grab some breakfast. It wasn’t extremely early, but it was still early enough for me to want to keep my head down and get in and out. I was one of three people in the store and the other two guys were already deep into a conversation. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn’t.
Habib works behind the counter and his friend was just there for a cup of coffee I assume. His friend was talking to him about forgiveness and how he couldn’t allow himself to hold onto bitterness. Again, my interest was peaked but I just decided to listen. Habib’s friend continued to tell him all the practical reasons of why he should forgive this unknown third party, and finally religion was brought up. His friend told him he must forgive or Allah would refuse his prayers and his standing would fall. My heart broke for this man as he quickly folded.
I know that may sound a little strange, but I wasn’t upset that Habib gave in, what upset me is that his motive was fear of a God that would turn His back on him. I wandered around the store a little longer, already having what I needed and the friend just kept coming after him. He told him he needed to forgive this man and the longer he waited, the more of the sin was transferred to him and he needed to make this right immediately. The friend never raised his voice or condemned Habib, but he just calmly instilled all this fear in him.
Finally, I came up to check out and the friend apologized and since I heard everything he asked me, “Don’t you think he needs to forgive this guy?” “Of course.” I said it faster than expected and tried to just keep my mouth shut, but as I looked at Habib’s hung head, I knew I needed to say something further. “But it would be nice to serve a God that was ok with us being human and gave some grace to his followers.” I picked up my change and left.
I hate when people abuse this idea of grace and almost use it as a license to kill instead of realizing the priceless gift that it is. However, it breaks my heart even more when I see people that are ruled by fear. Yes, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” but that isn’t the Halloween type of fear. As followers, we shouldn’t cower from a God of love and grace, but we should look to extend that to other people. Praise God we can have a relationship with Him and that He allows room for our mistakes. If we served a God that kept a running total of our mistakes that may or may not be forgiven, then we might need to fear. But, if we serve a God that would leave His place in heaven and take on all of our screw ups and mistakes, so that we might have communion with Him, then I feel like we have a little bit more to be excited about…
