Caution!

"Caution, Caution, Caution" screamed my GPS this week as I was doing 80 mph on the 70mph limited I-75. My GPS has a helpful and annoying feature of letting you know when you are going faster than you should do. It is valuable because it is so easy to cruise to speeds beyond what it is safe to. It is annoying because when you are running late, as I was, it keeps reminding you that not only are you late but that in your efforts not to be late, you are breaking the law. Sin begets sin! However, I discovered this week that if you keep breaking the speed limit long enough, after about 5 minutes of 'cautioning you,' the GPS will stop warning you. In essence, it gives up on you. It figures you know what you are doing, 'it has done its bit to warn you that you are doing wrong, but there is nothing that 'it' can do about it… so 'it' gives up on you. Sadly, I have had friends like this, and I confess that I have been a friend like this as well. There are times in my life when my behavior and attitude have caused my friends to scream 'caution' at me, but I have ignored them to the point that eventually, they stopped warning me and left me to my own destructive devices.

At times I have seen attitudes in others that have caused concern, and I have whispered (I'm not much of a screamer!) to the "caution, caution." Once our concern is not heard, it becomes all too easy to give up on people and let them do what they have to do despite what we think could be costly consequences. The relationships that Jesus calls us to are not like this. They are marked by the following; - Loving people so much that we don't stop lovingly calling them on dangerous and destructive behavior.

This is the essence of accountability. - Letting people love us so much that when words of caution are shared with us, we slow down and respond appropriately. This is the essence of respect. Who is offering you some caution right now? Listen to them! Who do you need to caution right now lovingly? Keep doing it.