Ladybugs v.s. Wasps

"I saved all the ladybugs!" proclaimed my 10 year old daughter. She had worked diligently to move all the poolside ladybugs away from the water's edge. I had not noticed the lounging ladybugs, but I sure had noticed the abundance of gigantic wasps flying around the property. "So what about the wasps?" I asked her, "Did you save any of them?" Her face twisted in disdain, "Oh no! I didn't save any wasps!" I have seen that same look of disdain on faces before. You mention the name of a certain person in their presence and suddenly the lips snarl and the eyes narrow and the manifested dislike is sufficient to start a war.

The difference between wasps and ladybugs is that wasps sting. We all know how painful a sting feels, a sting of betrayal, of selfishness, of injustice. The person that threw us under the bus for no good reason, the spouse that lives mainly for their own interests, that person we trusted that we eventually realize is just using us to get ahead. Wasps sting and nobody wants to help that which does harm and causes pain.

Jesus came to deal with stings. His purpose was for all of mankind to be able to proclaim, "Oh death! Where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and it is also the sting of life. Every human comes equipped with a stinger of injustice, capable of inflicting pain and creating ill-will in the hearts of others. Jesus came to de-sting us, to turn us from self-centeredness to God-centeredness, from stinging others to healing others. Undoubtedly, stinging wasps are feared, but life-giving ladybugs are favored. Just ask a 10 year old.