Absolutely!

Lessons are best learned by experience it seems. Would you like people to learn without the challenges . . . at least some of the time? Maybe it's just me. My students just finished reading Little Britches by Ralph Moody. It's a rich story of early life in Colorado. It is filled with many life lessons. My students were writing a five paragraph essay on the virtues found in the book. As different students were pondering (out loud) what they were going to write, I came to realize a "life lesson" usually meant learning something from having done something bad. More than one student said, "My parents ask me, 'Have you learned your lesson?' and I realized "learning a lesson" in their 10 yr old minds meant getting it right after having done something wrong. We did discuss that not every lesson has to come out of a bad event. I'm not sure they were convinced.

In a world where absolutes aren't as favorable as fuzzy possibilities, some of Jesus' words are difficult to take. He seemed so sure of Himself. Do people like that unnerve you a bit? Can life lessons be learned from someone so disarming?

In John 8, Jesus didn't condemn a woman caught in sin. He just told her to stop. That sent the religious leaders into a frenzy trying to outsmart Jesus using the law. Jesus was pretty sharp in that He used the leaders' own laws to prove His points. (He's the kind of team player you want on your debate team!) Then, as He often did, he turned the peoples' attitudes back at them and told them more than once that they would "die in their sins". He kept leaving them with absolutes (the "die in your sins" part) which messed with their  minds. They wanted to devalue the messenger because they didn't know what to do with the message. How could they comprehend this life lesson?

Something happened though.  Jesus declared (John 8:24) that if they didn't believe the I AM was there, they would die in their sins. Something happened that is not described by the author of this book. Jesus kept laying down the absolute; something changed. It was like a light came on for some of the people there. He described what would happen soon hinting at the crucifixion and resurrection. It must have been hard to put into words, but all the author could say at the end of this experience was "many believed Him."

My young readers didn't like some of the absolutes the story of Little Britches taught them, but in the end, their young eyes were opened to life lessons they could understand and explain. They believed the author. Did these religious people have to have a bad experience to learn a life lesson?  I actually think the absolutes Jesus laid down caused them to see the truth. They hadn't died in their sins yet.  Somewhere the heart of Jesus (I AM) drew them to believe. Those who stuck with the message, found the heart of the messenger rather than criticizing. Must we have absolutes? Absolutely!

Father, black and white absolutes cramp my style. The fuzzy possibilities are less stressful . . . and frank. Just as my students caught the life lessons, I also caught the life lesson You spoke to the religious leaders. I pray for any who might believe absolutes are just too hard. I know without You (I AM), those absolutes would be too hard. I did sneak ahead reading in John's writing of chapter 8. I read that this truth sets us free . . . absolutely!