Christian Living

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ITS JUST A TENNIS BALL
FROM THE MIND OF A CHILD


A few days ago, my six-year old grandson, my wife and I decided to go to the park to fly his new remote airplane he received for Christmas.

We had a wonderful afternoon of watching that plane soar and watching it, well, crash.

Following an afternoon of flying the plane, we decided it was time to head home. As we were walking to our car, I noticed a tennis ball on the ground. All the players had packed up for the evening. Knowing that a tennis ball, like a golf ball, is a commodity with little value, my wife suggested it would make a nice toy for our dog.

So, we grabbed it and headed to the car. Now, at first, I thought it was okay to do this. But what I did not count on was a child's conscience.

You see, as we drove through the park, I kept hearing this voice from the backseat saying, "But papa, it's stealing. This is not our tennis ball."

I tried not to listen to this voice, but the more I ignored it the stronger it became. That's when my adult brain kicked in and said, with all the logic of a 56 year old, "Logan, it's okay. You see, it's like a golf ball. No one cares. "It's just a tennis ball." I could take this to lost and found, but no one will look for it. It's not like a billfold or something of value..."

"But papa, it's not ours," he replied. "They might call 911 on us and put us in jail."

Mary, my wife, attempted to overcome his fears by saying, "Honey, it's okay, we're going to give it to the dog.This is..."

Interrupting her, I stopped the car and with a chuckle said, "We're not going to convince him honey. Besides, how does a six-year old know the difference between a tennis ball and a billfold." So, I asked her to open the door and throw the ball out. For I knew we were not going to win the battle.

As we started rolling again, our grandson continued his rebuke: "Papa, you know that was stealing. Good thing you threw it out. If someone called 911, we could have gone to jail."

It's a little humbling when you have to tell your grandson he was right and you were wrong. We should have never looked at it as "just a tennis ball." How much better to have taken this to the city park's lost and found.

Jesus said, unless we turn from our sins come to him as a little child we cannot enter the kingdom of God. This scripture became very clear to me that afternoon. In a child's mind, what I tried to steal something. If we had kept the ball, my grandson would have lost respect for me. He probably doesn't even know what the word respect means, but he would have felt it and I would have seen it in his eyes.

This morning, as I write this article, the whole scenario had me thinking about how many times I do things I should should not do and then try to justify my behavior saying, "It was just a little lie." Or "God will understand." "Hey, I only peeked." Or, "It's only one Sunday Lord."

Everyday, we use our sophisticated adult minds to justify our sophisticated adult behaviors. And yet, our child-like conscience does not understand the difference. Our conscience screams, "Liar!" "Indecent!" "Thief!" It’s not programmed to work in shades of gray. Like a child it only knows right and wrong. Now, add the Holy Spirit's still small voice and you know what happens. Guilt, shame, and self-condemnation overwhelm us. All the while, we're trying to justify our behavior. As if we could convince our conscience and the Holy Spirit, "It's just a tennis ball."

That day, the Lord taught me what it means to be child-like. We're not to live our days in shades of gray. God's Words are true. They are not like some smorgasbord where we can choose to live by the verses we agree with and ignore those we do not agree with. Instead, we are to confess them and seek His forgiveness.

Therefore, I have concluded the tennis ball, by itself, was not the issue. The issue is the heart. The issue is the little things I do each day that lead me to justify my behavior before God. It took my grandson to remind me there is no way I can ever justify my behavior before God. A white lie is still a lie. A lustful peek is still lust. Cheating Uncle Sam of his rightful taxes, no matter how we justify it, is still cheating. Watching movies with a little cussing is still filling my mind with ungodly words. And taking a tennis ball that is not mine is, well, "stealing."

A child-like mind never justifies. It says, "Papa it's stealing." God give me that kind of mind: A mind that will never justify my behavior before you nor overlook sin. A mind that will confess all wrong, even if it's "just a tennis ball."


Lynn Sheldon is Founder of GodFire Revival and Discipleship Outreach, a ministry that develops and distributes discipleship material. Website: http://godfire.org
email: [email protected]

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