WOW! What a week for news in the cultural arena.
We saw on TV (or Youtube depending on where you see the news) that Will Smith open-handily slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife's loss of hair. Many were in shock. Then Smith continued and open his mouth and began to let four-letter expletives fly to show Chris how disgusted he was with the joke. Will Smith has come out and apologized for what he did, but Rock has stated that he's still in shock at what happened to him on Sunday night. Chris Rock's publicist has reported that his tour ticket sales have soared since the slap. So, I guess there is a bright side to all of the mayhem.
As I got to thinking about the infamous slap heard round the world this week something came to mind.
Every single one of us has had a moment where we wished we could have done exactly what Will Smith did to Chris Rock to someone in our own life for offending us. We have all wanted to slap someone upside their head for something they said or did to us. I know this is exactly what our fleshly desires would want us to do, but something came to mind. We are called by JESUS to live our lives out differently than this.
'43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Matthew 5:43-44.
This is what makes us different. We aren’t to retaliate when someone offends or mocks us. Rather, we extend grace. Why? Because Jesus has extended grace to us. When we encounter difficult people rather than slapping them alongside their heads we extend grace and look for ways to bless them because that's been done for us.
I know that the world currency right now is outrage and offense, but what would it look like if we just took a few moments every single day and attempted to offer hope to folks who are hopeless. What if we offered the world a worldview that brings light rather than darkness? What if we showed off the love of JESUS to those who we think don't deserve it? I honestly think that would change our world! Because honestly, none of us really deserve grace but isn't great when we do receive grace?
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