Beyond the Broken Image

In high school, my algebra classes met in a classroom on the upper floor of our building, directly across from the restrooms. I remember that classroom more vividly than almost any other room from my academic career. It always seemed ten degrees warmer than the rest of the building, and the hallway carried the smell of smoke from teenagers who believed they were successfully hiding their vice.

The environment might have been survivable had the class itself been more engaging. Instead, my teacher spent nearly every period seated beside an overhead projector (Google that if you do not know what it is) carefully copying equations from the textbook. She had a remarkable ability to take something that could have been read in six minutes and stretch it across all fifty-four minutes of class without making it any easier to understand.

After two years in that classroom, math became associated in my mind with something smelly, stale, and stuffy. Even now, I do not enjoy math-related things.

Sometimes one bad example can distort the way we view an entire subject.

A painful experience with one person in authority can make us distrust everyone in authority. One unhealthy church can make us suspicious of every church. One hypocritical Christian can become the image through which we judge all Christians.

The failure may have been real. The damage should not be dismissed. But when we remain fixated on a broken example, it can keep us from recognizing something better.

The apostle Paul understood that danger. The Philippian believers were surrounded by people whose lives contradicted the message of the cross. Paul described them as people ruled by their appetites, proud of what should have brought them shame, and consumed with earthly things.

He did not tell the church to ignore those people. He warned the Philippians about them, and he did so “even with tears.” But he refused to allow the worst examples to become their defining picture of the Christian life.

Instead, Paul wrote:

“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”

Do not spend your life staring at the people who got it wrong.

Keep your eyes on those who are faithfully walking toward Christ.

Pay attention to the believer who suffers without becoming bitter, serves without seeking recognition, repents when confronted, loves when it is costly, and continues pressing toward Jesus even after failure.

Broken examples are real, but they do not have to define what we believe is possible.

This Sunday, as we continue through Philippians, we will see how faithful examples help us keep pressing forward, and how our hope in the returning Savior enables us to stand firm.