For the longest time, I’ve had this little illustration bouncing around my brain with no place to put it. So here it is.
Imagine driving down the road, doing a mere 3 miles over the speed limit when a maniac flies by you, easily going 25 mph over the limit. You see red and blue flash in your rearview and think Good, they’re getting that lunatic.
But the cruiser hovers behind you instead of going after Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The cop sidles up to your window to shouts of furious protest. Are you kidding me?? That guy flew by me! Why aren’t you going after him?? He’s the REAL lawbreaker! I was just going 3 over!
The cop leans down and says, “You were breaking the law, weren’t you?”
Silence.
“…and that’s why I pulled you over.”
See, it’s not the degree to which we break the law, but the fact that we break it at all. Our tendency is to point fingers and say, ‘Are you kidding me? Look at that guy! At least I’m not as bad as him!”
I think of the beautiful passage in Luke where a prostitute falls to her knees before Jesus and begins washing His feet with her hair. When His disciples are perturbed by this, Jesus tells them, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”