The Payne of Actually Living Your Principles
By: Steven Andrew Schultz
When revenge is present, God is absent.
It all started with a question. One of those “what if?” hypotheticals that’s supposed to grant you the social simulation that forecasts your truth. It was meant to be virtual reality to discover how real are your virtues. My high school English class was about to begin William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar: a twisted tale of betrayal and revenge that leads to destruction and death through the slashing of the sword and the rhetorical reach of your tongue. What really makes it a tragedy is how prevalent that wicked behavior is seen across our landscape still.
To build the anticipation by making the reading relevant and the lessons come to life, they were given a scenario (one based off the life of Nelson Mandela of which we were about to read a 10-page exposé about before exploring Caesar’s Rome)
Moral Scenario:
If You Were Wrongly Put in Prison on Purpose in the Prime of Your Life For 27 Years, and then were freed and became the president of the country with full power, would you imprison those who wrongly imprisoned you or let them free?
After they spent time in small groups imagining how they were doing hard time and they were put there for false reasons so their jailers could have power of them, exploit their labor, and silence their voice by taking away everything they loved, and now they had all the power, they all said revenge would be immediate and gave their justifications.
After they enthusiastically regaled us with their detailed retribution plots, some brutal, I asked if anyone said they wouldn’t retaliate in any way. One hand rose, ascending without hesitation and a ruckus ringed off the walls of the classroom. They hollered at him like he was full of it. I asked him why? He gave his answers and the crowd’s hostility increased, unbeknownst to them, they were behaving like the mob (masses of common Romans that Shakespeare makes a character in the play to showcase how fickle, hypocritical, and easily manipulated the majority of people are in any society) in the play they were about to begin.
As dozens of darts were heaved in Devin’s direction, he sat there, resolute, staid, unwavering in his principles, immune to the peer pressure to bend, appearing to have a moral force field shielding him from the verbal attacks of the group. It was astonishing to witness; inspiring once you understood the power of this young man’s moral fortitude.
When the masses give their morals no meaning, where our ethics are treated like a lifeboat being towed from the stern of the ship rather the navigational GPS guiding our sight through the glass of the captain’s windshield, ice bergs will sink you. So, Devin Payne is here to be our rescuer, by living out the teachings of the redeemer.
Someone wronging you is not permission for you to do wrong.
When his lone hand reach for the heavens to contest the group-think smorgasbord of self-righteousness, a bright neon bracelet with the letters WWJD embroidered across it caught my eye, as Devin caught the mob’s ire. Devin and I attend the same church, as did a few more in the classroom who were chastising Devin as crazy for turning the other cheek. In fact, many others in the room attended other churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples around the community; and today, what they all shared in common, was their hate for the hypothetical person who had harmed them.
Except for Devin, who professed this radical idea that someone wronging you is not permission for you to do wrong. Devin spoke about loving your enemy, forgiving those that hurt you, praying for those who seek to harm you, and the mob acted as if they had never heard such blasphemy before. To them it was so absurd it was comical, as they literally laughed out loud and mocked Devin for decrying you should bless those that curse you and love your enemy and love your neighbor as God loves you. Just as Jesus was mocked by the mob when he first spoke the same words that this young man wearing his bracelet was speaking now, over two thousand years later.
With a theme of Shakespeare’s play being appearance vs reality and with the current wide-spread pandemic of hypocrisy of people failing to place principles before profits and have their everyday behavior match the religious beliefs they expose, Devin Payne’s practice was in such alignment with his print, if Jesus walked on water, Devin Payne scooted through the surface of the room like he was wearing those shoes with the wheels hidden in the soles. And when you are soul-driven like Devin, you glide through the guile like a Tesla on autopilot.
I was so moved that he didn’t move. They yelled jeers of ridicule and Devin sat there in my executive chair, in front of the room, with people staring through him. Like a rock in a rocking chair, he was still, stoic, and steadfast in refusing to recoil or bend to their pressure for him to succumb to their stance of an eye for an eye. But like the great carpenter referenced on his wrist that spoke of removing the plank in your eye before you judge the speck on eyes of others, the same carpenter that many in the room claim is the God of the print they follow, treated Devin’s stance of pardoning those who imprisoned him like a splinter that must be tweezed out of the finger they were pointing their condemnation with.
Their aim was off, though, as Devin was already taking cover beneath their line of fire because he was kneeling down, washing their feet. Oblivious to the divine love Devin was demonstrating and how similar their behavior was to the mob we were about to see in the play, and how opposite their behavior is to what many claim they believe in, I was in awe of the lesson in virtue this young man was teaching us all. We weren’t just momentarily going to read about a Mandela, we were witnessing a Mandela-level leader arriving in real-time, possessing the temerity to get in some “good trouble” and endure the pain of lived principles in the face of a mob of people who were playing pretend.
When I pointed out the connection of Devin to Mandela, and theirs to the mob of the play, I mentioned how Devin reminded me of Winston Churchill, the former prime minister of England whose uncompromising principles prevented the world from speaking German. After class, I grabbed my copy of Long Walk to Freedom (President Mandela’s autobiography) off my bookshelf, told Devin to look at the cover of the book which Mandela’s face adorns, and asked him what he saw. Devin said, “Mandela.” I retorted, “Look again. This time more closely. I see your future. You will have a Mandela-level impact because your behavior is in alignment with your beliefs. You are going to elevate humanity.” Then I gave Devin the book to keep and wrote a handwritten message inside for him.
The key word in Long Walk to Freedom is long, as the book is thick, heavy, and not a page turner, at least not in the beginning, but the job of every leader is to give their people a greater vision for their life, to help them see higher purpose of service and how when their life is led by love, they make visible the One from above.
I don’t know how many students were forever altered from the lesson that Devin gave that day, as there is no Amazon Prime to leadership; however, I do know Mr. Payne inspired me that day, which is something he does most days. Devin will sometimes leave me a Bible verse on my desk or show notes he took from class on words I said that resonated with him.
The most recent Bible verse Mr. Payne left on my desk are the words of Jesus (Letters in Red) “When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
One of Devin’s favorite quotes of mine is:
“Don’t let those who aren’t like you, make you not like you.”
Steven Andrew Schultz
It’s, what Jay Z calls, a “Triple Entendre”
1. Don’t let haters make you not like who you are
2. Don’t let haters make you change who you are
3. Don’t let hateful people make you hate them
So, why, out of hundreds of people, many who claim Jesus as Savior, did only one live out Jesus’ teachings of loving your enemies? It’s a conundrum The Church can no longer ignore.
With “Karen” videos going viral, what we need to really address is the elephant in the room: all the “Ians” wreaking havoc. A “Karen” is a lady gone mad usually screaming for the manager while she throws a tantrum, but an “Ian” is a Christian that’s missing Christ. The three letters left when you remove the word “Christ” from “Christian” is “Ian” which is someone who has removed the words of Jesus from their daily behavior. Ian is a phrase I have coined to represent those who love to talk about Jesus but fail to be the love Jesus talked about.
With an Ian, the larger the cross they wear around their neck the smaller the Christ is in their heart. We have tens of millions of Ians in America selectively choosing Old Testament text to control the life-choices of others while simultaneously seeming to have never read the words in red.
A prime example was this most recent Christmas Eve (2022), the holiday where baby Jesus (a non-white, non-English speaking, non-Christian, non-American, foreign immigrant refugee who sought refuge after his unwed teen mother was turned away and told there was no room for Him and so He was born in a vile of pig slop, and the irony and utter hypocrisy seems to be lost as millions of Ians cheered on and celebrated an Ian-Governor who flew a bunch of non-white, non-English speaking, non-Christian, non-American, foreign immigrant refugees to the Vice-President of the United States neighborhood in the frigid cold as a political stunt. Now, there is nothing wrong with wanting strict security at the border, but to celebrate treating a bunch of God’s children (whose appearance resembles more closely to that of Jesus than most white Americans do) with such distain for political gain, hours before you celebrate Christmas, shows just how absent the love of Jesus is in those about to unwrap presents. If your politics come before your principles then you don’t have principles, only principle-less politics.
Today, as I was driving, a new worship song by Jon Reddick came on the radio with lyrics that state, “It’s not just a story. I believe in the life of Jesus.” While listening to it I wondered how so many could listen to these lyrics but not live them? It reminds me of what my uncle Mark Roskam, who was a pastor before he died, wrote to me once, “Words are worth living. Our culture demands a shift in our heart attitude…and often times the deeper question is: just who is your God?”
I think of Devin’s wrist: two neon friendships bracelets I had given him, and a WWJD wrap too.
It is obvious by Devin’s actions he is aware who his God is. Rather than WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets, I think the “shift” as my uncle referenced, should become DWJD (Do What Jesus Did). And what was Jesus’ final act as he was held in agony on the cross? He forgave those who crucified him. If you don’t want to be an Ian, but want to be a Devin, you must forgive everything and love everyone.
On my letterhead are the numbers 70X7. It reminds me of when someone came to me for counsel because they were furious with a former friend who had betrayed them a second time after he forgave him the first time. I asked, “Why haven’t you forgiven him again yet?”
My friend’s anger now turned towards me. “Why would I forgive that scoundrel after I already showed him grace and he stabbed me again?”
I answered: “Because of that cross you’re wearing on your neck.”
He shouted in disgust at my correction: “Jesus never said you had to forgive twice!”
“You are right.” I replied. “Jesus said to forgive 70×7 times…or, infinitely. If our savior can forgive the people who murdered him, slandered him, and betrayed him, then you and I must forgive everyone too if we truly are followers. To love Jesus, we must love like Jesus.”
If You love Jesus, You must love like Jesus.
He walked away from me, and, in a huff, said, “I came to you for help. You were supposed to tell me how they were wrong, not that I am wrong for not forgiving.”
Four years later, after not speaking to me or returning any of my calls or texts, I got a phone call from my old friend. After a four-year absence he called for four reasons: 1. To say sorry. 2. To say thank you. 3.To say he forgave that person who wounded him. 4. To ask for my forgiveness. He realized that when he came to me for healing and I asked him to forgive, I was offering him healing. He talked about how his anger prevented his receiving of my love and while he thought he knew Jesus, it took him years to admit to himself he didn’t because those that knew him didn’t know unconditional love.
When we are teaching others how to love, they might get angry with us because most people have never experienced unconditional love, only manipulation wearing a Love costume. And so, we must have patience and hope we can have the Woody Woodpecker effect. Years after they leave you, like Woody the Woodpecker, that laugh (the teachings) stay with them. For many of you, just hearing the name of Woody brings forth that annoying laugh of his. But teachers of Jesus must be like Woody and patiently peck away at the ego of others until we have a breakthrough where they remember you. I wasn’t physically with my friend, but for four years my teachings of Christ-like love were pecking away at ego’s lie that you can only love people who love you too.
“The Only Way To Truly Know If You Love Jesus Is If You Also Love Judas.”
Steven Andrew Schultz
Any place you hold a grudge is a place you’re not holding the hand of God. In fact, the only true way to know if you love Jesus is if you also love Judas. I congratulated my friend for forgiving the one who wounded him and for having the strength to admit where he was weak and the fortitude to give and seek forgiveness to get stronger. I told him he was already forgiven by me and invited him over. The next day he was at my house, and we had the best hug. I thought of Woody’s laugh and my soul sang.
If you were a child of the 1980s and 1990s like me, you’re aware of that catchy theme song to Ghostbusters that asked the question: “Who you gonna call?” The ghosts that haunt our spirit are the people we haven’t forgiven and the people we haven’t said sorry to. So, who are you going to call? Like my friend did to me. Whether it’s been four years or forty, pick up the phone, defeat the ghosts of your past by letting someone hear the voice of Jesus today.
Who are you going to call to say: You are forgiven?
Who are you going to call to say: I am sorry. Please forgive me.
And don’t just be sorry, be better.
Sometimes the person you need to forgive the most is yourself. We spend too much of life beating ourselves up like we’re playing the game Rock’em Sock’em Robots where our present is the red robot and our past the blue robot, and we keep popping up our head with punches instead of propping up our heart with grace.
As Mister Rogers said, “The toughest thing is to love somebody who has done something mean to you. Especially when that somebody has been yourself. It’s very important to look inside yourself and find that loving part of you. That’s the part that you must take good care of and never be mean to. Because that’s the part of you that allows you to love your neighbor. And your neighbor is anyone you happen to be with at any time of your life. Respecting and loving your neighbor can give everybody a good feeling.”
Maybe we don’t love our neighbor as ourselves because we have been taught to hate ourselves.
Maybe we have such a difficult time loving our neighbors as ourselves because we live in a society that’s tells us not to love ourselves. If you truly love the man with holes in His hands, there can’t be any holes in your heart. I often wear a baseball cap that has these words on the front: Love Thy Enemy. It has started so many wonderful conversations. One time that stands out is when I was paying for my dinner and the worker is looking at my hat and he says to me, “I have never heard that saying before Love Thy Enemy.” I noticed the cross necklace he was wearing and explained how they were the words of Jesus and how he can apply them.
This stranger started crying and fell into my arms. I held him up for a bit and I told him, “I love you.” He asked how I could love him when I don’t know him. I said, “I don’t need to know you to love you. I only need to know who God is and who I am. And God is Love, and so, I am someone who loves everyone. Just like God loves me when I’m not loving, I must love those who don’t love me or even like me. It’s those who don’t love you at all that teach you how to love all. It’s easy to love those who are loving; it’s difficult to love those who are difficult. Do what’s difficult.”
This man smiled and gave me a hug. He told me I was the only person to say the words “I love you” to him in a really long time and he really needed to hear those words because it helped him heal some wounds. I said, “I love you” once again and left the restaurant. As I walked to my car and looked at the piece of bread in my bag, I thought of Jesus and his lesson on giving living bread.
The world is parched for genuine love and it’s you and I who must answer the call to provide it. I had a parent of one of my students email me once to say, “I was speaking with my daughter about all her teachers and she said something that moved me. She said, “Even though Mr. Schultz has never talked about religion or ever even said the word God, I know he loves God by how loving he is to all the students, especially the difficult ones.”
Just as the man was grateful for my words of love, I am grateful for this parent’s words of love. It’s been a decade since I received them but they have stayed serving me, helping to remind me what Jesus taught: your love for Jesus will be known by how you love the difficult ones.
The Love You Give Away Is The Way
Right now, I want you to think about the worst thing that has ever happened to you. The best thing you can do about it is to love the person who did it. Picture them and feel any emotions of anger and resentment that starts to build and rebuke it all. Replace anger for what was done to you with compassion for what they couldn’t do for you. It’s not your fault; it’s theirs. It’s not your weakness; it’s theirs. Picture them as a fragile child who has never experienced the loving hug of Jesus and figuratively give it to them. By virtually hugging them, you start to heal yourself. The love we give away is the way. Practice empathy for their lack of strength to give you the love you deserved.
The Love We Give Away Is The Way!
Love yourself enough to love the people who hurt you so you no longer hurt.
Think of your emotional wound like a physical wound. After you have been cut the wound starts to scab. But if you touch a scab, it still hurts. Press on the scab enough and it will re-open and bleed. But a scar is different. When you see a scar, you remember how you got the wound but no matter how many times you touch it, you no longer feel pain. Love yourself enough to love those that hurt you, so you no longer hurt. Forgiving doesn’t necessarily mean I will be your friend; forgiving means I won’t be your enemy. It’s probably wise not to go around the snakes who bit you because they most likely will bite again. Snakes shed their skin, not their sin. Forgiving them is how you remove the venom from their bite. In honor of the man with holes in his hands, turn your scabs into scars. Forgiveness and grace are how you do it.
Snakes shed their skin, not their sin.
I’ve never been good at Algebra but here is one equation I created that I ponder daily. I call it the Schultz Grace Equation. What’s true in math is true in life.
Schultz Grace Equation
Negative One Plus Negative One Does Not Equal Zero. It Equals Negative Two.
Negative One Plus Two Equals One. You have to be twice as loving to negative people to keep the world a positive place. That’s grace.
Forgiving is for giving yourself peace and healing. Don’t confuse forgiveness with friendship. Everything is forgivable but not everything is repairable. I can forgive you and never want to see you or speak to you ever again. You must make that decision. Loving your enemy doesn’t mean to have to like them, loving them means you don’t act like them. Someone doing you wrong is God in disguise giving you the opportunity to do right.
As Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother[a] will be liable to judgment.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,[f] let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Love Your Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,[g] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Back in the classroom as the mob incredulously questioned Devin to the limits of his love, someone asked him: what about murder? Are you telling me you would forgive someone if they killed your brother?
Devin replied, “I love both my brothers and want nothing bad to happen to them, but if something did, the best way to love my brother is to not do anything bad back to someone else. Their bad behavior doesn’t control my good behavior.”
The mob screamed “No way!” There is no way you could forgive someone for murdering your brother.” And then I played the video. It is from a recent court case of a woman who shot a killed an innocent man for no reason. Many of the family condemned her to death. But the younger brother went up to speak at her sentencing trial and brought Jesus with him. His older brother was a Devin, not an Ian. Jesus was the leader of his life and so his little brother honored him by loving the person who murdered the person he loved the most.
Do You Bring Jesus With You Everywhere You Go?
This disciple of Jesus sat before the judge, looked right at the murderer of his big brother, and made Jesus visible in the courtroom by saying these words to the woman who murdered his big brother:
“I forgive you. I know if you go to God and ask Him, He will forgive you. I love you just like anyone else. I personally want the best for you. And I know this is what my brother would want for you: give your life to Christ. Again, I love you. I don’t wish anything bad on you.” He then turns to the judge and asks, “I don’t know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug, please? Please!”
And when most of us would have been strangling the person who took away the person we loved the most, this Devin was being Jesus by loving the most. As he hugged her, the judge started crying, the cops started crying, and the murderer cried uncontrollably. As I watched, I saw Jesus on the cross, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.”
This follower of Christ spoke more love to the murderer of his brother than most of us speak to the ones we love on a daily basis.
I write this not to edify the reader, but to remind the writer, too. Many times I fall short of loving on Jesus’ level, but people like Devin help me walk back home. And thanks to Jesus, the walk is not long. Re-reading the red letters (Words of Jesus) helps me get in realignment. Just like you need to routinely realign the wheels of your car or otherwise you will slowly start to move crooked and veer off the road and crash into others, you must realign your practice with your print. I don’t pretend to be pious. I am a sinner myself, full of flaws, who is trying to love as much as I can today and top it tomorrow.
As Devin’s bracelet asks, WWJD What Would Jesus Do?
Jesus said: Be me. Love like I love. Do what I’ve done and even greater things. Only by the love you give to others, especially the least among you and those that wrong you, will you be known as a follower of mine.
The only way to know if your truly love Jesus, is if you also love Judas. Love people who disagree with you, love people who look differently than you, love people who don’t love you. You can’t hate someone into loving, but you can love someone out of hating. Love doesn’t always work, but love is the only thing that ever has.
2,000 years later and speaking the teachings of love that Jesus spoke still riles up the religious crowds, but like with Devin, let’s not crucify them, but emulate them. What’s most valuable is invisible until you see to it that Love is seen by how you lead your life. Speak love, show love, teach love, be love. To be the love you come from, only love can come from you, no matter how unloving a person comes at you.
The question the Church must recon with is why Ians are so prevalent and Devins are so rare? The emptiness of the words of those who claim The Word are why pews aren’t full. I saw a sign recently that said: There Is No Hate Like A Christians Love. When those that claim to follow Jesus who taught all about love, who only showed anger when dealing with religious hypocrites (Ians), who spoke of the sins of being rich and commanded us to help the poor, yet tens of millions of those who claim Christ vote for politicians who seek revenge and name-call, worship the wealthy and despise the poor, and tout the same religious hypocrisy that caused Jesus to turn over tables, the Church has major soul searching to do. Do the red hats align with the red letters?
But the responsibility also lies with the student. What makes Devin different is he one of the few students who takes notes when the teacher talks and then goes and talks to the teacher about what he wrote down and asks follow up questions. A pastor can only reach those who want to learn, put into practice, reflect, and pursue the highest purpose of service. Too many people use church like a Monopoly Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card. They attend on Sunday just in case, but they don’t behave like Christ. They see church as the building they enter one day a week instead of a ministry they are building in the lives of others every day of the week.
If you go inside a church to receive Jesus but your neighbors don’t receive Jesus when you are outside of church, then Jesus isn’t in you. Loving others won’t always make people better, but loving others will always make you better.
If you want people to see Jesus when they see you, then you must see Jesus when you interact with them…especially with the difficult ones. Make God visible by how you love. You do this by rejecting ego’s number one lie: that you can only love someone who loves you too. Jesus requires you to love at first sight regardless of what you see and to love even more even after you’ve been wronged.
These teachings aren’t just for the readers but a reminder for the writer, too. I don’t claim any superiority or mastery. If you had to be perfect to preach about love we’d have no preachers. All I know is I’m not as loving as I should be, but I’m better than I used to be. When it comes to being a Devin, not an Ian, I can say about myself, what a true follower of Jesus, John Wooden, said as his last words before he died. His pastor asked him, “Coach Wooden, are you the man God wants you to be?” And John Wooden, the writer, high school English teacher, and UCLA basketball coach whispered, “I’m working on it.” Even at the age of 99, hours before death, John Wooden was still working on being more Christ-like.
May you and I keep working on it. There is no higher purpose. Forgive yourself and all others.
WWDD What would Devin do?
What would Jesus do?
What will you do?
When you know who you are it doesn’t matter what others say you aren’t. When you know who you are, you know what to do.
The truth of Love states: you don’t have to know someone to love them, you just have to know you’re someone who loves like Jesus loves.
To show the highest love to those who are hardest to love, is how we show we love God.
Be Christlike those who fail to be Christlike.
Don’t be an Ian, be a Devin.
Be Jesus!
I love you.
