Cops and Christians

What do cops and Christians have in common?

For those of you outside the DC metro area, I would like to offer up a warning before you drive here: be careful. There are cops everywhere (and I do mean everywhere). I can’t remember the last time I got on the road and didn’t see at least one (usually more than three) out and about.

I take it back: they’re usually not “out and about.” Typically, the cops I see are sneaky. They hide behind trees, hills and houses; they wait for their moment to bust you. That’s right: speed traps. These clever little cop cars have hideouts the whole way from my parent’s house (where I work) to my grandma’s house (where I sleep), and they prowl the area like fruit flies on a rotten banana.

Tonight, as I was driving home, I saw the other kind of cop, the one I sometimes forget exists as I make absolute certain not to exceed 25: the kind of cop that speeds off down the highway, doing at least 20 over and clearly annoyed when you’re driving so slowly (chill out, I was in the right-hand lane!).

This brings me back to my original question: what do cops and Christians have in common?

They’re both perceived as self-righteous hypocrites.

These Fairfax County cops have this glaring double standard. They’re allowed to zoom past those white rectangular boxes, ignoring the little black numbers as they zip along home. But woe to anyone else who dares inch a few miles per hour past the limit: whammo- ticket time.

And I’m talking to the tune of $200.

Meanwhile, Christians are seen much the same. They go to church only to come home, fight with their families, gossip with their friends and get their weekend party on, only to clean up nicely for church again the following week so they can sit in the service and judge all those sinners who aren’t present, who are so lazy as to sleep in on a Sunday after the undoubtedly wild and crazy night they had had the previous evening.

Confession: I’m no fan of the cops around here. But I’ve acted worse than cops when I’ve hoity toited my butt to church, only to use it as a bargaining chip to boost my ego and blast anyone who didn’t live up to my standards of perfection.

And they called Jesus the friend of sinners.

He loves people, not because they clean up nicely on Sunday mornings, but because He created them and endured hell on their behalf.

That’s like saying the cop who never speeds sat through traffic court for my (totally deserved) speeding ticket and then paid the whole thing off when the judge (in justice) condemned me “guilty as charged.”

My ticket meant an eternity separated from God- that’s a little bit pricier than a mere $200.

With a love like that, I don’t want people to see me as self-righteous. I never want to be compared to a cop. When people look at me, I want them to see Jesus.

Because He loves them, and because He deserves them- for He endured hell for them.

For us.

Doesn’t Jesus deserve those for whom He suffered?