Are you the good cop or the bad cop? Do you interact with people as if what they need most is structure and rules and consequences, or do you interact with people as if what they need most is understanding and sympathy and second chances?
Typically, we feel like we have to choose one or the other of these modes. We must either be sympathetic to the plight of others and overlook their shortcomings or we must crack the whip and make them take responsibility. This impacts the way we parent, the way we interact in friendships, and even the way we treat ourselves. Do we need to be harder on ourselves or give ourselves more permission and space to figure things out?
The most important question of all is not whether you are a good cop or a bad cop. The most important question is whether God is a good cop or a bad cop. Is God’s main strategy to give us rules and direct consequences in order to help us grow and change, or is His strategy to continue to give us more and more chances, being as understanding as He can be?
Which one is He? Which one do you want Him to be? This Sunday, we will see Jesus forced to choose between being a good cop or a bad cop. The way He responds reveals a powerful and much-needed truth about how God conducts Himself toward us.
Dan
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