A Tall Tale..A Fiction of Course

Imagine you are the owner of a large widget company. You started out, just you making and selling widgets. They were the most excellent of widgets and people clamored for you to make more widgets. Soon your business began to grow and grow and grow. You started bringing other people on board to help you. They came with some skills, talents, and even passion for your widgets. They liked how you ran your company, your mastery of making widgets, and they took pride in working for you.

Over time, the work became more demanding and the initial thrill of working for the best widget company wore away. In its place came complaints that the widget design needed to be changed. Grumblings started that you didn't know what you were doing and that you were wrong. Your employees began to feel they were entitled to speak disrespectfully, call you at home, and even yell and slam the phone; hanging up mid-conversation.

What would you do with employees like that?

Would you pay them any longer; fire them?

Would you allow your own children to talk to you in such a disrespectful manner?

Would you want to be around a spouse that talks to that way?

If this behavior occurred in a court room, before a judge, what would happen?

If someone spoke this way to their teacher, what would happen?

Would they talk this way to themselves?

Would they speak this way to the face of God?

How would you feel if some people did this to you in just a week, a month, a year?

If knowing this kind of behavior, would you hire people like this?

Are these attributes that God blesses?

How would you feel if this behavior became the culture of the company and every employee felt they could violate common understandings of respect for those in authority over them; those in the lead.

How would a General respond to a Lieutenant who talked this way?

What makes an employee think they are entitled to speak in such a way?

The Bible says to work for people as if you were directly working for God. Do you think these employees have ever read or understood that passage?

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat; then you swallow a camel!

Now, none of these widget employees have ever been an owner of a company and not one of them have the talents, skills, or balls to ever try to manage more then their tiny little cubicles and yet they seem to be able to tell you, your faults, shortcomings and problems. They are ineffective in motivating others within their cubicles, they've done poorly at drawing in more employees or customers to enjoy your widgets, they whine and pout daily that things are so hard, and they seek first to complain. They seem to think they have the whole world figured out, yet their own cubicle is a mess.

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! Blind Pharisees! First wash the inside of the cup, and then the outside will become clean, too."

They are simply taking liberties with you (liberties: a too free, too familiar, or impertinent action or attitude). Would you even want to listen to them?

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. You try to look like upright people outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness."

There you are the lead person in the company, concerned for so many things, the widgets, the customers, AND the employees. In fact, you are so concerned about the well-being of the company and its affect on the community, you have decided to forgo receiving any compensation from the earnings of the company. You basically are the hardest working, most concerned, most passionate, and most compassionate VOLUNTEER there...and you find people pooping in your Cheerios. There are days where you look up and think, "shucks, I don't get paid enough for this crap."

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed and decorate the graves of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then you say, ‘We never would have joined them in killing the prophets."

Don't you wish people (I won't even say Christians...non-Christians seem to be nicer) would grant you liberty (freedom or release from slavery, imprisonment, captivity, or any other form of arbitrary control) instead of taking liberties with you?

Why do "Christians" treat non-believers better than they treat those they are close to, in ministry with, go to church with?

"Yes, how terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn him into twice the son of hell as you yourselves are."

It is a sad thing that the Bible says nothing about being respectful; showing love for one another; about being helpful; or any other silly notion of kindness, joy, peace, or self-control. Wait a minute, it DOES, in fact, it says plenty about it... It is time for some employees to ask for forgiveness. Unfortunately, I don't have time to write out the end of the story...Maybe the widget company will have to close its doors. Maybe the owner of the widget company will be crucified, or stoned to death. Maybe things will get better...

Thank goodness this is just a tall tale, a fiction of course.