“There’s something more important than the letter of the law: the person.”

A thought by Kyle Idleman (2011-05-24) from his book, Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 80). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Kyle tells the story of a man who came into a bank to finalize a business transaction and he had jeans on. The teller let him know that the person he needed to see wasn’t there and he would need to come back the next day. The man then asked the teller if she would validate his parking and she said she couldn’t because bank policy said that you hadn’t technically completed a financial transaction. The man, whose name was John emphasize that it wasn’t his fault that the man wasn't in but the teller wouldn’t budge.

So John whose last name was Akers decided to make a financial transaction. John who was at the time the chairman of IBM decided to close his account and he withdrew one-and-a-half millions dollars. And he then asked if the teller was then able to validate the parking ticket.

That is when rules become more important than people. Yes, rules have their place but when they become more important than people then we are no longer following Jesus.

Do you have that tendency?

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