Latest / Prayer Before Work / Stand Close in Trouble - Prayer Before Work
Transcript
- Sean Graver: Okay, so word has gotten around the office about a coworker of yours, and you have no idea if any of it's actually true. But you know exactly what people will think if you're seen sitting with them at lunch. Well, hey, this is Sean. Welcome back to Prayer Before Work. Now, this is one of those situations with really no clean exit. Someone you work with has been accused of something. Now maybe it's true, or or maybe it's just exaggerated. Maybe it's just flat out wrong and you truly don't know which. But what you do know is that they're isolated right now. People are keeping their distance and some part of you wants to be there for them because they clearly need someone. But another part of you is doing the math on what it might cost you if you're seen as being on their side. So I'm not gonna tell you there's no real risk here, 'cause there might be. But I want to bring you to a verse of scripture that doesn't let us off the hook that easily. So the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 6 2, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So notice he he doesn't say bear the burdens of people whose innocence has been fully proven. he doesn't say wait until it's safe. I mean, burden bearing almost by definition, kind of happens in that ambiguous time before anyone knows how the story ends. And when standing close to someone actually costs you something. And that doesn't mean you have to publicly defend them or take a position on their guilt or innocence that you're not equipped to take. I mean, you're not their judge and you're not their damage control team. But there's a difference between defending someone's case and simply Being present with them as a person. Now you can say, I don't know all the facts here, but I know you and I'm not going to disappear on you right now. So that's not a judgment, it's just being human. And if you're weighing this today, ask yourself, what kind of person do you really want to be found to have been? You know, once all the dust settles, whichever way it settles, because it will settle eventually. And when it does, they're going to remember who stayed close and who quietly stepped away. So let's pray about this. Lord, this is one of those situations where we don't have clean answers and we don't we don't want to pretend to have them either. give us the wisdom that we need to know how to support someone without pretending to know things that we don't. And would you take away Our fear of what people will think of us for standing near someone who is struggling. And help us to be the kind of person who shows up in the midst of trouble, not just after everything's cleaned up. And whatever the truth turns out to be, let us have treated them with the same grace we'd want if it were us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Go make today count.