IQ #262 (My Bad)

The serve comes over the net, the player in the back row returns the serve with a direct bump to the setter, and the setter sends the volleyball to the corner without any rotation on the ball. The outside hitter smashes the ball to the opponent’s floor. Perfect execution! Nope. The setter set the ball over the net and the opponent’s outside hitter hit the ball. Side out and point for the opposition. The setter looks at his teammates and says, “My bad.”

The young student is having trouble understanding the math problem. Help comes and instructs the student to multiply two adjacent side’s inches of the rectangle, then the square inches of the rectangle will be known. The student comprehends and proceeds to find the correct answer. Perfect? Nope. The math problem was to find the perimeter’s length in inches. The embarrassed instructor says, “Oops. My bad”

 The duo readies the crowd for the first song, a tempo is given and the person leading the singing hears chords from the guitarist that don’t match the song the singer has. The singer looks over at the guitarist’s music and the words on the screen and they match. The singer has the wrong music up, but quickly corrects the situation, just in time to sing the first words, avoiding a ‘My bad’ situation.

In a 24 hour period I managed to do all three of those ‘My bad’ moments. It was all good though.  It was the eighth volleyball game of the night and we were all tired. After my misplaced set to the other side one of my teammates asked me in a joking way, “Whose side are you playing on?” It was a laughing moment. We were all friends that come together each week to have fun in a game we love to play. 

Even though my lapse in memory on what was being taught was an honest mistake it was not damaging to the student’s learning. The student did learn the correct way to find the total distance of an object’s perimeter, and is now prepared for finding the area of an object when that section of math is covered.

When given the chance to lead the songs during worship you want your first note to be on pitch and the first word sung be the one everyone else is singing. Fortunately, the correction was made in time and all went well… Well, I did have a moment in another song. While singing a high note in another song, my voice cracked in a way that reminded me of that time in life where many boys must deal with the changes in their voice as they enter their teen years. A few laughs were heard, which was fine. We were all friends in Christ. Young and old(er). 

But, what about the more serious times when you mess up? How do you respond when you do or say something the affects another person(s) in a harmful way. Do you quickly see the error in your action and respond with, “I’m sorry (My bad)”? If you aren’t immediately aware of your wrongful behavior, but are informed about it later, will you have the decency to make time to apologize to the person(s)?

Our society has become more and more bent on blaming someone else instead of taking ownership of any wrong doing. I see it in the leadership of this country. I see it in the media. I see it in the parental leadership of our children and I see it in our children.

Do not get me wrong. I am not saying every leader, media source, parent and child are at fault, but if you are paying attention and observant, you will see this ‘blame others’ excuse running rampant across our nation.

This past week an incident happened at a job site where someone had done something wrong and harmful toward another person and was reprimanded for it. Later that day a relative of the person reprimanded came up to the person that was harmed and instead of apologizing for what had happened, put the blame on the harmed person and then continued in a rant that included making violent threats. Police were called. The person that had been harmed, then threatened, decided to quit the job for fear of safety. This case has not been totally resolved, but a lot was lost. Simply saying, “I am sorry (My bad), I should not had done that,” would have settled the issue.

A young child called an adult a liar in front of people that knew what was being talked about and that the child was deeply wrong. Instead of saying, “I’m sorry (My bad)”, proceeded to become defensive. Hearts were broken and a young child now faces severe punishment. 

As followers of Jesus Christ, and with faith and trust in God Almighty, you are called to a higher standard of living and that includes accepting any errors or sins you make. Fess up (“My bad”) when you have done wrong, ask for forgiveness.  Seek out the truth and the light will shine upon you.

John 3:19-21

¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Many people do not want their lives exposed to God’s light because they are afraid of what might be revealed. 

In Matthew 26:69-75 Peter denies knowing Jesus three times. First by trying the change the subject, then by using an oath, like in a court of law, basically saying, “May God strike me dead if I am lying.” Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

In the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” you could feel the emotional impact and the devastation that was to follow Peter’s denial, in the dialog between Mary Magdalene and Peter:

Mary Magdalene: “Peter-don’t you know what you have said? You’ve gone and cut him dead”

Peter: “I had to do it don’t you see? Or else they’d go for me.”

Mary Magdalene: “It’s what he told us you would do- I wonder how he knew…”

The scriptures never mention if Peter ever directly said, “I’m sorry (My bad). But, Jesus knew when Peter wept bitterly in repentance about his actions, he was transformed and became a true disciple and believer in Jesus Christ. The love for Christ that Peter showed and lived from that moment changed his whole ministry for the gospel and for the glory of God.

To answer Mary Magdalene’s musical question about how Jesus knew what Peter would say, you need to know God. To know God is to understand that he created everything from heaven to Earth and beyond and as the creator, God would know all that was, that is and is to come.

Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

God knows every inch of you inside and out, and he knows your heart, so, whenever you have a slip up in your actions, that cause any type of harm to others, admit your error and say, “I’m sorry (My bad).”

With the love of Jesus Christ,

Papa John