Christianity Has Its Priviledges... & Responsibilities?

Yesterday's experience was totally bizarre.

Was late to meet a friend in Jusco so just as I was turning in to the carpark, I whipped out my phone to ask him where he was. Lo and behold... right before me was an officer of the law. Alamak! Kena tangkap red handed.

The cop came up to me and said, "Cik... ini kesalahan besar tau? Kalau saya saman, mesti kena maksimum RM300 punya. So, saya tolong you dengan RM50 la, ok?" As usual I went on with my strings of "maaflah encik, last chance, tak buat lagi... etc"

The dude actually discounted from RM50 to RM30 and even down to RM20. I was late and really wanted to get it over with but I could tell he really didn't want to issue the saman to me. So I said, "Tak boleh la encik, saya tak boleh buat macam ini."

Then the cop actually asked me this, "Kenapa tak boleh buat macam ini?"

Last resort, this was my answer, "Encik, saya tak boleh buat macam ini kerana saya Christian la."

This... I must tell you. The cop paused a moment, looked at me and said this, "Oh... you Christian ka? Lain kali, cakap awal sikit la. Ok, pergi pergi."

?!?!?!?!?!?!

This reminds me of another time when I was caught speeding on the Karak highway and was stopped. Actually, I got confession to make la... that time, not so principled, so I was prepared to give him RM50 ade. But then the guy saw my IC and said, "Hhhmmm... Christina... you ni Christian ka?" WAH! Bribing at this point was SO NOT gonna happen. So, I said yes and he let me go.

Which makes me think a bit. I often rant about how society holds Christians to a higher moral standard. For example, I've often heard these comments. "Christian also can bribe meh? Eeyer... he's so bad tempered on the road and say he's a Christian some more" etc etc. But you don't hear people saying, "Buddhist also can bribe meh? Eeyer... he's a Muslim but drive so aggressively."

I'm not saying that Christians can bribe or drive aggressively. Instead, I wonder why the same moral standard is not expected of others. Y'know what I mean? We Christians are perfectly clear that we are sinful no matter how hard we try and our forgiveness is purely by God's grace. So where did society get the notion that Christians are perfect?

With that thought in mind, I ask myself, if we have the priviledge of God's grace in our lives, then do we also have a greater responsibility to live up to the expectations of society's higher moral standards - hence, be God's witnesses in this world? I'm not saying God always lets us off the hook. We have to accept the fact that when we do wrong, we have to pay the consequences. If, by God's grace, He let's us off the hook... then it's a bonus for us. Otherwise, we must be prepared to face the music.

So, with priviledge comes responsibility? Hhhmmm... I'll need a little bit more time to ponder over this.