Last week one day while waiting for a cup of tea I had ordered at a coffee shop, my eyes caught sight of a chair badly in need of a reupholstery job. At least I thought so. The seat was threadbare. The fabric was torn and badly frayed; even the padding was peeking out. As I stared at that chair, I found myself wondering why such a chair in obvious need of repair was part of the furnishings of a high-end coffee shop. But then I caught myself. You see, I’m from the older generation that is around today, and thus I often see things through the eyes of how they were when I was young. Back then, a chair like that would have been thrown into the trash or at the very least would have been reupholstered before finding a place in such a welcoming gathering place.
But things have changed. Even so, as I stood there waiting for my name to be called, something didn’t quite make sense. On the one hand we frequent upscale coffee shops where we willingly pay $5 for a cup of tea, but on the other hand, we’re willing to sit on a ragged chair while we drink that cup of tea served in a little teapot with a pottery cup.
At first none of this made sense, but then it occurred to me that in our culture today there seems to be a collision of values. On the one hand there is a spirit of entitlement. We expect the best of everything, yet at the same time there is an acceptance, even a welcoming of what is worn and frayed. Even though I’ve come to expect it, it still startles me when I see the jeans filled with holes young people use good money to buy.
As all this ran through my mind, I quickly realized God had just given me a great illustration of living the Christian life. On the one hand, we have a sense of entitlement, wanting only good from God. We want and expect the abundant life He offers. But on the other hand we want it without the responsibility of obedience and walking the narrow way Jesus talked about. Simply put, we want good from God without living His way. Some even live lives that are frayed and torn instead of living lives that are healed by the grace of God.
Oh, a clash of values is perfectly fine when it comes to the furniture we sit on in an upscale coffee shop or the frayed jeans we wear. Who cares? For that means nothing in the grand scheme of life. But for the Christian, there should never be a clash of values in what we expect from God, and the way in which we choose to live.
In the grand scheme of life, that means everything!
Blessings,
Judy Grubaugh