Discriminating Against Dirty Feet

My mom likes to tell a story about when I was young and playing outside with the little neighbor girl. My mom was busy mopping the kitchen floor. While it was still wet, I popped my head in the door and asked if my friend could come in and use the bathroom.

Mom looked at the wet floor, and at my likely-dirty feet, and told me the first thought on her heart. "I just mopped; she can run back across the street to use the bathroom."

I didn't take no for an answer. I looked at her and asked seriously: "Mom, what would Jesus do?"

And so my friend used the bathroom at our house, and my mom cleaned the trail of dirty footprints that tracked across her wet kitchen floor.

Honestly, I don't remember that event, but I love it, because it reflects this mindset that I constantly strive for, one which I think Paul captures nicely in 1 Corinthians 2:2: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

All other things fade in importance when compared with Jesus and the cross and the empty tomb. Truly -- all else is of secondary importance. So in this instance, dirty floors and hesitations got pushed to the side. In this instance, this little girl -- though it may not have impacted her life in any significant way to use the bathroom a few feet nearer than if she'd had to run home -- got a taste of Jesus-hospitality. And God did a little bit of work on Mom's heart, too, in the process.

In James 2:1-4, he gives us some straight talk about discrimination. Where have I heard that word before? Hmm, hang on, it's coming to me, just another second, almost there... oh yeah! NBC, ABC, Atlantic, AP, BBC, CNN, Fox, NPR, and on and on and on, especially over the last months, especially regarding police, racism, brutality, and choices that present themselves in the heat of the moment.

In James' context, he's using -- once again -- rich and poor as an example of what happens when we discriminate. "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?"

If the neighbor girl with the dirty feet needs to use the bathroom, but you send her home because of those dirty feet entering the fine conditions you've worked to create... have you not discriminated?

If the person who passes you on the street has brown skin or black skin or tan skin or olive-complected skin or peach skin, and you find yourself shying away or being disturbed because of any one of those shades of color... have you not discriminated?

If the person who picks out groceries next to you in the produce section is wearing a police uniform, and you turn away and wish that his job would disappear with him... have you not discriminated?

Remember what happened when Samuel goes to meet Jesse in order to anoint one of his sons as the next king over Israel? He looks at Jesse's oldest son Eliab, and he thinks: Yep, this is it. He's tall, strong-looking, muscular, kingly. 

God, on the other hand, isn't too bothered by Eliab's supposed kingly appearance. He tells Samuel: "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Ouch. And why is this so hard to remember? Many of us have heard this story since we were children, and it's not hard to interpret. "Don't judge a book by its cover" is a fairly well-known proverb.

But here's the thing: As an author, I have found that the cover is the single most important part of the initial selling of the product. My marketing skills can be on-point in all other aspects, and the quality of my book can be top-notch, but unless I have an eye-catching cover, my book doesn't sell.

Why is that? Because people judge books by their covers, in spite of knowing better. 

Now -- I've read some books with awesome covers that turn out to be riddled with typos and plot holes and inexpert writing. I've also read books that could and should have had a better cover artist that were beautifully woven stories -- a true diamond in the rough.

We know better than to discriminate. But we do it anyway. Why? Because we're sinful human creatures who constantly fall short of the mark of holiness. Does that mean we give up? Nope. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Justification: that beautiful setting on your word doc that allows all your margins on both the right side and the left side to be completely lined up and perfect. The setting that pulls all the short sentences to the end and sends the too-long words to the next line. That makes the imperfect margins... perfect.

Wait, that's not what it means? 

Our attitudes don't measure up to perfection, do they? We discriminate too short sometimes, and other times, we overextend our attitudes. We give credence to evil intentions, or we take good intentions and make them evil. The whole mess in the media right now is a prime example of a nation who discriminates. We discriminate over George Floyd, we discriminate over Derek Chauvin. We discriminate over Ma'Khia Bryant and we discriminate over Nicholas Reardon. 

We look at the situations and we judge them, and we have it all figured out, don't we? We know exactly what we would have done in that same situation, and naturally, what our actions would have been would have been far superior to what actually went down.

Y'all, I don't know what I would have done if I had been standing where Derek Chauvin was. I don't know what I would have done had I been standing where George Floyd was. I like to think I would have known, but wisdom tells me: I might very well have flopped just as large and hard as any one of the key players here. Even more, here we are on the other side of what turned into a horrible situation for all sides: white, black, police, citizen. Are we stirring the pot, or are we seeking healing?

Wisdom also tells me to return to the key point, the main focus and mission of my life: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Why? Because out of that beautiful statement, everything else gets its meaning. Out of that beautiful statement, my agendas, my plans, my purposes get pushed aside. When I discriminate, I discriminate with Him as my Cornerstone. 

A dirty-footed neighbor girl tracks mud across our kitchen floor to take care of a basic needs -- because what would Jesus do? A situation goes down in the nation that is beyond horrific, and we respond -- how? By stirring that infernal pot? Or by showing love and grace to each person involved, no matter the color of their skin, no matter the uniform they're wearing, no matter the things they've done that you or I think deserve punishment. 

I saw so much celebration after Chauvin's verdict was read, because that fed a movement's agenda. It made me sad. I saw so much celebration when the original autopsy report came back that Floyd's system was full-up of drugs that possibly ended his life, because that fed a movement's agenda. It made me sad. 

How have we gotten so focused on the outer appearance that we've forgotten the heart? Jesus, forgive us where we've failed to discriminate with Your eyes. Forgive us for our need to push our agendas.

Lord, help us do what You would have us do, see what You would have us see, speak as You would have us speak, love as You would have us love, to serve each other, no matter who each other is. Help us to have compassion on each other -- Your compassion, not our faulty "compassion." Help us to see each other through the lens of Your grace and mercy and truth and wisdom that led You all the way to the cross and beyond that, to the tomb, where You left it behind forever when You rose again. For us.

All of us: George Floyd. Derek Chauvin. Me. You. And a little neighbor girl with dirty feet.