Late one frigid winter night, I received one of those heart-dropping-into-your-stomach kind of calls from my son; he had been in an accident.
He was five minutes from home. I drove out to meet him, and, to my relief, found everyone alive and well. There was, however, an issue to deal with, namely that of a lady who was really upset. According to her, my son had come slightly across the center line, and their mirrors had smashed against each other as they passed. She had already called the police, and they were on their way.
My son and I got into the truck and waited in the warmth. As soon as we sat down, I asked him for his side of the story.
“I was in my lane, Dad, I know I was. I am going to get a ticket anyway, aren’t I? I mean, I am the younger driver, and she has the nicer vehicle, so this is going to go against me, isn’t it?”
I told him that it likely would, but that we weren’t going to worry about that. He was to keep his composure no matter what and maintain a good testimony. Then, waiting there in the darkness, we prayed. We prayed that we would be good witnesses and that both the other driver and the officer would see Christ through all of this.
A few moments later, the blue lights rolled up, two of them. The lady told her side of the story, my son told his, and then one of the officers went into the road to look. He came back a few moments later, spent some time writing up a report, then gave each of us a copy. When he came to our window to give us ours, he said, “There is no way at all for me to know who was over the line, it could have been one vehicle, the other vehicle, or even a little bit of both being too close. I am not giving anyone a ticket; your two insurance companies will handle the rest.”
I conveyed my thanks for his coming, then told him, “But for us, that isn’t the end of it. We want to make sure the name of Christ is held high. I am going to pay for her repair anyway.” A moment later, I told the lady the same thing and arranged for that to take place.
What is legal and what is right are often two very different things.
Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”
Our world is all about rights these days. Every race, gender, class, lifestyle choice, age, and creed all seem to have advocacy groups to agitate for them, or in some cases even mobs to scare people into giving them what they believe are their rights. But for the Christian, right is usually far loftier than rights.
My son and I had a right to drive away and not look back, and leave the other driver to handle her own insurance or repair issues.
Jesus had a right not to die on Calvary.
Paul had a right not to suffer simply for preaching.
Jim Elliot and his band of missionary brothers had a right not to be slaughtered by the Aucas.
But right is greater than rights. Rights must sometimes be willingly laid down in order to accomplish something much higher. The late Vance Havner made this profound statement: “The best argument for Christianity is a genuine Christian.” Christianity is not a fair-weather thing; it is at its purest in the midst of a storm. Each day will present a child of God with opportunities to lay down their rights and do what is right. Each day will send across our paths people who are wondering if Christ is real, people who will find either an assurance of his reality through our behavior, or a reason to doubt if we behave in the wrong manner.
There is obviously a balance to be struck here. The same Paul who had a right not to suffer simply for preaching also appealed to Caesar when his life was about to be taken unjustly. The same Jesus who laid down his life as an innocent man also rebuked both the High Priest and an officer before he did so. So, yes, there is a time and a place to assert our rights. But there are also a whole bunch of times to lay them aside for something far greater.
Sometimes, a few dollars or a turned cheek is a small price to pay to make God look good to a world that needs him.
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