Maybe it’s because of who I keep hearing it from.
If someone makes mistakes or messes up everyday and says, “I’m sorry” after every failure, without any change in behavior, should it mean the same thing?
Scripture says we should forgive 70x7 times. But sometimes I admit, I have a lot of problems with that.
If you’re an employer or manager and your workers keep doing things over and over again, without really thinking about what they might be doing wrong and then, “I’m sorry” is all you hear for their reasoning - do you keep forgiving?
What if you’re a parent or family member and every day you hear, “I’m sorry,” for the same thing over and over again? Is there any difference?
I admit, I like a little mercy every now and then, but if all I get is mercy, what incentive do I have to shape up and do better next time?
If there’s no punishment for the action, I’ll keep sinning.
Paul writes,
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
A friend said recently, after being teased about not doing something at work, “Why go out of my way to work harder, there’s no repercussion for not doing something.”
One of the great scenes from Office Space tells this story in a new modern twist.
Peter Gibbons: You see Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
Bob Porter: Don't... don't care?
Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's another thing, I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Porter: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
If the only motivation someone has is to do the bare minimum, they’ll continue messing up and continue doing nothing more than say, “I’m sorry."
And will never learn to take responsibility for their actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment