are you guilty of being the older brother?

Today I read a blog by Tony Campolo entitled “I’m the Older Brother.” (which can be found at http://blog.sojo.net/2009/03/24/im-the-older-brother/ if you would like to read more than the excerpts I address below.)
In his blog, Campolo admits that with regard to President Obama’s stimulus package and its provisions to help those Americans who are having great difficulty paying their home mortgages, he has come to realize that he is like the older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son.
(in case you need reminding, younger brother takes his share of their father’s wealth, spends it all irresponsibly, then returns home to ask for a job on his father’s farm. But instead of giving him a job, his father runs out to meet him, welcomes him home and throws a party. Older brother is angry. He resents that he worked hard for his father for many years, and now the money he helped earn is being spent on the brother who was wasteful. Campolo points out that we can almost hear the older brother saying, “This brother of mine was irresponsible in the way he lived and spent his money, so why should he now get the benefits of money that I helped earn through my hard work, day in and day out?”
Then Campolo admits that this is much the same attitude that he and many conservative brothers and sisters, have had in reaction to President Obama’s announcement that taxpayers’ dollars, earned by hard-working, responsible citizens, would be given to help those irresponsible Americans who bought houses that they couldn't afford, while embracing a lifestyle that was beyond their means. This is a very good comparison. Campolo goes on to say that many people now sound like that older brother in Jesus’ story, and call for those irresponsible spenders to get what they deserve. With an air of self-righteous indignation, we declare, “They didn’t do what’s right and now we’re being asked to rescue them from the financial mess they’ve created for themselves!”
Campolo reminds us that the gospel is about grace and we all know that grace is about us receiving from God blessings that we don’t deserve. But many are reluctant to extend that grace to others.
In several incidents recently, I have noticed that people – especially Christians - have problems extending grace to others. Because of this, Christians often give Christianity a bad name. We preach about grace. We declare a God of second (and third and fourth, etc) chances. Yet we do not give people a second chance. We often fail to even give the first chance. Our mouths say we seek to reach the lost and bring them back to God. But our actions (or reactions) say that you shouldn’t have gotten lost in the first place and if you are not like us we will not be comfortable worshipping with you. We claim to share a message of “Hey, I am a sinner just like you because we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Evangelism is just one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread.” But the message others actually receive is “Yuck. Are you kidding? If you have made any error in judgment or fallen short it any way we want to see you punished. After you’ve jumped through our hoops, we might consider throwing you some crumbs.”
Maybe you’re outraged at a stimulus package or resentful of social services or irritated by the way someone dresses at church or disgusted that someone does not know a church ritual or reluctant to forgive someone, or all of the above and more. Ask yourself: Am I the older brother? Am I reluctant to extend the grace I have received to my brother (or sister)?