The Broken Toy

"For detestable to Yahweh your God is everyone who is doing such things, everyone who is acting dishonestly." 

Deut 25:16 LEB

Today I took my 4 boys to the toy store. My wife was under the weather, so I sought ways to give her the opportunity to rest. A cup of tea and an empty house I thought would be an excellent way for her to rest. We did some necessary shopping in the morning, but I still needed something to do for the afternoon. Thus, we ended up at the toy store to give my children opportunity to find amusement with the toys on display and placed out as demos.

Though my children were well behaved most of the day (as well as can be hoped for 4 boys 5 and under) by the time I let them go play with toys, they became quite unruly. They fought over toys and one had temper tantrum, throwing a toy to the ground. Finally, the last straw came for me when my eldest son broke a toy. It was a little plastic helicopter that had a functional rotor. In trying to force the rotor to work, my son broke off a blade. In frustration, I packed up all the demo toys and straightened up the toys on the shelves that my children had disturbed, and we headed to the van. Where guilt was upon me in the store for simply putting the broken toy from the shelf back, hidden among the demo toys, I couldn't think straight with the chaos around me. Upon getting everyone loaded in the van, I turned to the Scriptures. There I read,

"If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his." Ex 21:33-34 NASB

My guilt was confirmed, the moral law exhibited in this text is a principle of responsibility. My son broke something that was not ours, so restitution needed to be paid for the damage. However, I was stuck in a further dilemma: trying to wrangle these 4 boys back into the store in order to right the wrong seemed daunting, so after much deliberation I drove home.

Upon arriving home, my wife and I had a brief conversation with our son and decided that my eldest son and I would go back to the store. He and I loaded ourselves back into the van and drove off. All along the way I spoke with him about what happened and what he needed to do, namely to apologize for breaking the toy. He understood what he must do, though he feared becoming shy and being unable to speak.

We arrived back at the store and the toy was right where I left it. I gathered the pieces and handed them to my son. He boldly approached the counter, held out the toy and apologized for breaking it. The lady behind the counter was amazed that we had driven all the way back just to make sure the right thing was done. She forgave my son, and I proceeded to offer payment for the toy. Though hesitant in reply, she declined the offer. I think the whole scene had taken her aback. Afterwards, I told my son I was proud that he approached the situation boldly, because he was quite sorrowful and fearful when first discussed.

This story reminded me of the Gospel. My son had broken a toy, and when he came forward about it, he was pardoned, and the debt owed for the broken toy was taken upon the store. We as sinners break God's law daily. Yet, for those who humbly, but boldly, come before the throne can find a Savior who will pardon, and has taken the debt owed for that sin upon Himself.

But a second point can be seen in this story, and that is the use of the Law in the life of a Christian. I clearly felt guilt for hiding that toy, and the verse from Exodus came immediately to mind. That is why I searched for the passage when I got the boys loaded in the van. To hide that broken toy would not have been loving toward my neighbor, as it would have been stealing from his means to provide for himself and his employees. To hide it was dishonest. But in Exodus, I find that universal moral law of responsibility regarding others and their possessions as summarized in "You shall not steal" Ex 20:15 (cf Rom 13:9-10), making particular application to my neighbor's means of income. For the Jew, it was harming his neighbor's ox which plows the field so that he might have a harvest. For my neighbor, it is breaking his product that sits upon his shelf that he sells in order to provide.

My use of the law reminds me of chapter 19 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession:

Paragraph 6. Although true believers are not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned, yet it is of great use to them as well as to others, in that as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives, so as examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against, sin; together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ and the perfection of his obedience; it is likewise of use to the regenerate to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin; and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse and unallayed rigour thereof.  The promises of it likewise show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof, though not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works; so as man's doing good and refraining from evil, because the law encourages to the one and deters from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law and not under grace.

Paragraph 7. Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God, revealed in the law, requires to be done.

Law and grace do sweetly comply. But we as Christians often either neglect the use of the law, or forget the grace held out to us for when we break it.