Molehills vs Mountains: The Time the Soup Spilled

Blog Series

Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble

It is said that you cannot break the laws of God. You can only break yourself against them when you violate them. In this series we are looking at some of the simple and clear “laws of God” – that is to say, “biblical principles” – that we must follow if we do not want to bring very negative cause-effect consequences into our lives.

Traffic Fail

The last two weeks, I have told some unflattering stories about myself. Unfortunately, I’m not finished. This week, I make the point that we might not execute perfectly. We grow, but then get caught in something that takes us beyond our maturity level, and we realize we have to grow some more.

Last week, I said I had mastered the frustration of traffic, and yet one day a few years later, a different scenario played out. I was entering the freeway on my way home from a hard day at the church I was pastoring at the time. It was Friday afternoon, I was tired, hungry, and had a slight headache. As I accelerated to merge into highway traffic, I didn’t get up to speed as quickly as I might have. A BMW came flying up behind me, got within a foot of my bumper and laid on the horn.

Instantly I was livid (I always have a shorter fuse when I need to eat). First, he was driving way too fast. Second, he had plenty of time to get slowed down. He did not have to ride my bumper the way he did. I was going the speed limit shortly after he started blowing his horn. Third, he didn’t just toot. He laid on the horn. In what, for a pastor, would qualify as a near-sighted rage (it wasn’t quite a blind rage), I slowed down my Suburban to force him to pass me. When he did, I gunned it and got right up on his bumper. My heart pounded with adrenaline. Acid poured into my stomach. My jaws clenched reflexively. I would see how he liked being tailgated by a vehicle twice his size and half his cost!

Now… there are several things wrong with this picture.

First, it is sin to be so angry and respond the way I did. It was raw sin, and can be called nothing else. Second, it was very dangerous. I could easily have caused a serious accident. Third, he might have been a psychopath carrying a gun and shot me. Finally, and the one that hit me the hardest, he might have attended my church! People in our church drove BMW’s. Suddenly, I was buried with shame and guilt. I began to envision what I would say greeting him after church the next Sunday when he told me about recognizing me on the freeway Friday. The shape I was in, like David who followed adultery with murder, I would probably would have said I was just wanting to be sure he saw me so I could say “hello.”

As I said earlier, I had made some good progress driving in bad traffic. But, even when we take good steps to keep the little things in life from becoming big things, we might not execute perfectly. We could falter. We may revert. When we do, we must repent and restore our fellowship with the Lord. Then we go back through the steps we took in the first place.

The time the soup spilled

I am happy to say that these lamentable examples happened many years ago, and nothing like this has happened for some time. That is evidence that we can grow out of these character deficiencies. There is hope.

I want to close this little mini-series with a story that I think captures the spirit so well. I don’t know if the story is true, but the point is a good one.

A man was being interviewed by the vice-president of personnel of a large corporation for a job that would be a tremendous professional advancement, as well as a major increase in salary. It was a delicate job, however. One that would require judgment, patience, wisdom, and extraordinary people skills.

After going through all the normal interview procedures, the vice-president of personnel took the candidate out to dinner. Unbeknownst to the candidate, the vice-president had paid the waiters to treat the man badly. They were too long in waiting on them. They brought the wrong order. They dumped soup in his lap. They charged too much. Through the whole ordeal, the man being interviewed took everything in stride.

After they left the restaurant, the vice-president said, “You have the job if you want it.” The man being interviewed was a little puzzled. It seemed like such an odd time to tell him. The vice-president’s response was, “You obviously had all the professional skills and experience for the position. We knew that before you came. The last thing we needed to know was how you would respond under pressure in dealing with people. The meal tonight was a test. We paid those waiters to treat you badly and eventually dump soup in your lap. If you had gotten angry or flustered or handled that situation poorly, you would not have gotten the job. You handled it well. The job is yours.”

Conclusion

In life, when soup gets dumped in our lap, it isn’t the soup that is the issue. It is how we will respond to the soup. Scripture is clear on such things:

• Romans 8:28 – “…all things work together for good to those who love God…” Even the little things are under God’s sovereignty.
• 1 Peter 2:19 – “…this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.” Whether in little or big things, God calls us to be patient and enduring.
• Luke 16:10 – “He who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much…” God is a God of small things as well as big.

God is waiting to see how we handle little things… whether or not we let them build up to become big things. It is a test which, if we pass, several things happen:

• Our blood pressure is lower.
• We are spared the sometimes terrible cause/effect consequences of letting little things become big things and acting badly.
• We are given greater maturity, greater stability, greater strength, greater peace.
• We get “promoted” to greater spiritual power and usefulness to God.

Don’t sweat the molehill.  Let it go before it becomes a mountain.

In case you’re new here

The entire “Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble” series is in the archives, beginning with the first post on July 26, 2022. As the series continues, each succeeding post will be added to and available in the blog archives.

In addition, I’m creating a new online membership site, The Change Zone, that will provide information, strategies and resources to help motivated Christians renew their mind and transform their lives. If you would like to learn more about this and get updates to know when The Change Zone will be available, click here.

Help spread the message, “Like” my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/maxanders.author and invite your friends to do the same. I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at max@maxanders.com. I try to answer all emails, but, if not, I may address in future blogs the questions/issues you raise.