Don't point; that's rude?

Parents have said to their children for centuries (maybe not centuries) "Don't point; that's rude." I have to admit, as a kid I really didn't understand what was so rude about pointing. In fact, I'm still not really sure about it but I now find myself saying it too. Here's an example. On Mother's Day this year we went as a family to Olive Garden (Stacey's favorite). When we came out there was a young couple waiting to be seated and the guy had these huge circles in his ear lobes. Seriously, those things were at least 2 inches in diameter. As we walked out, our five year old Wes immediately turned to the man. When he did, I flew into super high speed mode to get Wes as far away from the man as I could as quickly as possible. Why? Because at this stage in his life, Wes says whatever he is thinking. I knew that if I didn't act fast Wes would probably say to the man "Hey, what's those circles in your ears?" or "Hey, look at that boy's ears!" We would have been totally embarrassed because pointing is rude, right? I think you know where I'm going with this so I'll just leave it there.

The book of Lamentations is one of the saddest in all the Bible. Jeremiah the prophet weeps over the devastation of his people. The nation of Judah was being taken into captivity by Babylon. They, like their brothers the nation of Israel, had rebelled against God to His breaking point and were now being judged, severely. If you have never read the book of Lamentations I recommend you do so. You will come face to face with the reality of God's judgment.

Lamentations 2:14 says "Your prophets have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They did not save you from exile by pointing out your sins. Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope. (NLT)" As I read that verse I wondered what motivated the prophets to do what they did. Was it that they didn't want to be the bearer of so much bad news that they let the people think everything was okay in order to remain in good favor? Or was it that the people refused to listen to the truth? "Don't point; that's rude." Whatever the motivation, the result still stands - the sin was not exposed, the truth was masked by a lie, the people waxed more and more wicked & God's heavy hand came down on them.

When it comes to exposing and dealing with sin there are two avenues of responsibility - the speaker & the hearer. The speaker is God's mouth piece. Those who are called to herald God's truth are responsible to say what God has said about sin, period. We will be held accountable for how accurately we say what God has said. This world is filled with "speakers" who are saying anything and everything about what God simply calls sin. May God have mercy on them. May God change their mind. But we all are responsible to be a speaker. Whether we are called to be a pastor/preacher/teacher or not, we are called to speak into the lives of our brothers and sisters. The other avenue is the hearer. Have we taken the "don't point; that's rude" philosophy and applied it to God's truth spoken to us? Do we get upset when our sin is brought to our attention? When was the last time someone said to you "(your name here), I think what you said (or did) was not very Christlike, in fact, it was very hurtful" and you broke under the weight of that truth? You may have never heard anyone say that because not only do we not want people to point at us, we're afraid to point because "pointing is rude." Of course it's rude to point in a proud or hypocritical way. In fact, that too is sin. But, true Biblical exhortation requires that we speak God's truth into one another and we allow others to speak His truth into us for the glory of God and the building of our character. Sadly, very little of that happens in the body. Why? Because "pointing is rude."

Wouldn't it be refreshing if we all determined today that we would welcome God's truth into our lives no matter how (or from whom) it comes. Wouldn't it also be encouraging if we all determined to no longer wink at our brothers and sisters who are living in open sin and be courageous enough to point. It really is up to you both in the giving and the receiving.