Weekly Reading: Chapters 20 & 21

 +Downloadable Study Guide Questions Below

Hey everyone, Emily Crabb here, welcome back to Character in Crisis!

It’s examination time at school, and Tip has studied hard! Never before has he given the slightest care to exams, but this year is different! This year Tip proudly takes his stand with the rest of the hard-working scholars.

He quickly breezes through reading, history, spelling; until all that is left is math. That dreaded subject! This one subject will determine whether or not he makes the honor roll. 

He steps up to the chalkboard—the math problem before him—and he freezes. Oh, haven’t we all been there—hands clammy and heart beating wildly? It’s the moment we've been waiting for with all its significance weighing heavily on our shoulders! Tip is there now, and the moment is somehow too long and too short all at once. In the midst of confusion and uncertainty, Tip thinks he has the answer! And then,

…he heard bursts of laughter from the boys and dashed down his chalk in an agony of shame and pain…the clock struck twelve! The honor was lost.

Bitter disappointment washes over Tip. After so much growth, so much study, determination, and purpose, to fall one answer short. And worse—old and new friends alike seem to be prodding and poking him from every side, adding salt to the wound. Can we truly be surprised at what the distraught boy, young in faith, does next?

Tip turned towards his tormenter, a face perfectly white with rage, and the boys hardly knew his voice. 

“Bob Turner, if you say another word, I’ll knock you down and thrash you within an inch of your life. I will—”

Oh, Tip Lewis! God forgive you for the way in which you, in your blind rage, have finished that sentence! For the use which you have made of that great name, which, above all others, you profess to reverence and fear.

A sobering moment, isn’t it? How quickly we forget, in our own rash thoughts and feelings, that there is One so great and wonderful, who ought to be feared above all else. One who gave His life for us. And yet we so easily discard His glory and toss His name in the trash. 

The road of repentance is painful, and Tip spends a long, miserable day regretting what he’s done and hiding from those who love him.

But thank the Lord for His sweet, sweet grace and forgiveness,

 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16). 

If anyone is ever in a time of need this day, it's Tip.

At prayer meeting that night, Mr. Holbrook encourages Tip to honor Christ by confessing his sin publicly. Tip looks at the floor and then back up at the minister.

“Mr. Holbrook, I wonder if you can think how very hard that would be?”

“I wonder if you can think how very hard it was for your Savior to listen to your words this noon?”

Ouch. 

And now we come to another oh-so-relatable moment: the dreadful decision to confess, and Tip feels it as horribly as any of us would. The temptation to hide what we’ve done and “move on” with life is very great. We say we’re sorry to God, but turn a blind eye when it comes to showing our true ugly selves to the world around us. Or sometimes we make the excuse that we don’t have the right words to say, so we shouldn’t say them at all. But this is just an escape route to avoid what is difficult. Everyone has to start at the bottom, in a place of humility, and if one is not willing to accept that humble position, they will never truly be great.

Those who refuse to embrace humility will wallow exactly where they do not want to be, in their own lowliness. Tip humbled himself greatly for but a moment, and restored his honor in the sight of his classmates, his teacher and his pastor; not only that, but he restored the honor of Christ.