"Don’t Go Looking For Trouble."

"Don’t Go Looking For Trouble."

By: Pastor Jack Schneider

“Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible.”  [Rom.12:17,18, NLT]

My grade-school teacher, Mrs. Wright, used to tell me, “Jack Arthur, if you go looking for trouble, it’s bound to find you!”  Of course, she always said that after I tried to excuse my behavior by blaming someone else for what had taken place.  You see, things were never my fault…someone else always made me do it. If not innocent, I certainly was not guilty. Man, does that ever resonate with recent events in the George Zimmerman case.

Such a travesty, and all because one ill-advised person went looking for trouble. Make no mistake, I understand and agree he was acquitted, which, in this case simply means the prosecution did not prove the necessary intent of hatred. Yet no amount of legal maneuvering or self-justification can erase the needless death of a young man who was pursued in a manner opposite the Biblical admonition above. Here in Texas we are allowed to defend our homes and families in a reasonable manner; when we step outside those homes, however, common sense and brotherly love are expected to rule our hearts and minds.

Do they? When we walk our communities, do we see our brothers and sisters as people worthy of God’s compassion and grace? If not worthy, do we see them as needing His mercy and peace? You see, those are hard questions -- for me -- because I am often an unmerciful respondent to those who drive alongside me, or those who clearly reflect different values than those I supposedly hold dear. Oh, dear Lord, hardly a day goes by that He doesn’t show me what a poor job I do of genuinely loving my neighbor! Truth be known, it’s not that I hate those in my community, I just don’t give them a second thought -- and that’s perhaps worse.

If George Zimmerman wanted to be effective in his neighborhood watch, he’d have done better to stop and ask Trayvon Martin if he could help him. Instead, he suspected the worst and instigated the worst possible scenario. God forbid we should do the same as people of faith in our own neighborhoods and communities. Our call and commission is to be a Light, the light of Christ to all we meet in our everyday lives. Where necessary, indeed we are to be wiser than serpents and harmless as doves.

Don’t go looking for trouble. Surely, it will find you. Instead, live at peace, as far as it depends on you. 

- Jack