“To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 1:5b-6
“You don’t have to do that!” Katie said. It was Easter Sunday evening and, in wanting to DO something, I remembered how dirty her car was. So I secretly started to wash and clean it. When he came out, it was clear by her reaction that SHE didn’t want to wash her car, but felt guilty if she didn’t offer to help ME! So I repeated back to her, “You don’t have to do that!” She grabbed a rag!
Like with so many… there are SO many should and shouldn’ts and could but wouldn’ts… or didn’ts, in life! To some, washing a car on Sunday is a big ‘NO NO!’ But doing it on Easter Sunday is even worse! But I’m a big Grace man and feel that Jesus would prefer to see ME honoring my wife by cleaning her car. BUT… that’s NOT to say that ALL husbands should see it my way! Confused?
We’d purchased 2 new vehicles within 6 months of each other over 18 years ago, then we got 18 years of use out of them. It worked so well that we did the same thing recently. Keeping 18 year old vehicles clean wasn’t a big priority. But having 2 brand new ones kind of laid the guilt trip of responsibility on me. Having the time and being antsy… I started cleaning. In guilt, she did too!
I know, I know! I’m a long term 50+ year veteran Christian. By now I SHOULD KNOW better than to operate out of guilt. After all, Jesus died for ALL of my sins to set me FREE from ALL of that stuff. But then, with a rag in hand, I saw it was possible I COULD be DISHONORING my wife by actually washing her car. I SHOULD have known it would make her feel guilty! Oh the games of Salvation!
As I copied and pasted today’s Bible verse, I noted the pronouns ‘him’ and ‘he,’ referring to Jesus, were not capitalized. Me being me, it made me feel dirty since, long ago I decided that I would Honor God by capitalizing all pronouns referring to Him. Here, someone else, in my opinion, dirtied up the Honor of God by breaking MY rule! Which made me feel guilty! You see what I’m saying!
When it comes to capitalizing God pronouns, many people struggle with this question. Some, believing it shows reverence for God, capitalize all pronouns that refer to God. Others, believing the “rules” of English style should be followed, do not capitalize the deity pronouns. So, who is right? The answer is neither. But judging the disagreeing wrong in either direction… is wrong!
With BOTH of us desiring to honor the other, and WHILE we BOTH felt guilty, we got her car clean AND my truck! And we BOTH, having served God and each other, felt GREAT afterwards! That Jesus’ plan of Salvation goes further than I originally thought! Do YOU have it and use it? Are YOU clean because of His love and sacrifice? How can YOU serve Him and others even better, capitalizing on His Grace Principle?
