This is not fun.
The Bible Study, Self-Confrontation, that we’re going through at small group is a lot of HARD work right now.
This past week as I meditated on our memory verse, Matt. 7:1,5, it was as though THE VERY THING I WAS TRYING TO AVOID–being critical–was the very thing I couldn’t stop doing. I guess that revelation prepared me to go to class humbled and utterly thirsty to understand this week’s lesson….How in the world, then, do I change?
Matthew 7:1-5 was a great memory verse this week, but I don’t think I have ever really understood it. I had always thought it was rather exaggerated that Jesus said to first take the LOG out of your eye before attempting to take a speck out of someone else’s.
I mean….REALLY?….a LOG? Isn’t that a little…oh, I don’t know…extreme?
But, as I meditated and chewed, it started to make sense. When you get something in your eye, it prevents you from seeing clearly. How can we HELP someone (which is the point by the way….to HELP, not criticize them), if we can’t even SEE clearly?
The first thing we do to HELP is to clean the specks (imagine them as specks of sawdust) out of our OWN EYE. By the way…we have ENOUGH SPECKS OF OUR OWN TO MAKE AN ENTIRE LOG. Our priority is to focus on our own specks before even giving thought to pointing out someone else’s. Usually we see someone else’s specks because we have the SAME problem.
Bottom line: We’ll never be able to disciple or help anyone if we don’t first deal with our OWN sin.
Well, it’s easy to write, maybe even easier to read, but it’s ridiculously hard to implement in the day to day challenges of life. But, hey…we’re not left in this alone. God provides divine empowering so we don’t have to live in defeat. Stay tuned as I continue to explore that…
P.S. CLICK HERE to listen to today’s lesson (type self-confrontation in the search box at the bottom).
I’m looking forward to getting caught up so I can comment here regarding the topic at hand. 🙂
This was a tough one… Not only was it “heavy”, but a little confusing with all of the referencing and such 🙂 As a result, I can’t say that I completed every part- as it was written anyways- but I did take away quite a bit. “Helping Others Biblically”… It’s hard. I got wrapped up in the ‘dicipleship’ portion of the reference guide. Specifically: #8. Do you love others in biblical ways?
Hmmm…. Do I? It’s easy to love those who share our spiritual beliefs, it’s easy to love those who love us, or those who don’t know of Jesus.. But what about the people who reject Him? Or the addicted, the abusers, the greedy…? I am uncomfortable. Along with my small group at my church, we are starting to volunteer to help “those in need”- namely single parents or hungry children. And while that is important (I’m NOT taking away from that), how often do we REALLY walk outside of our comfort zones to help those suffering from really awful pasts, or those who are drug users, or the diseased? How often are we serving a “easy ” love?
#7: Do you place the welfare of others ahead of your own? Philippians 2, 3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others.”
I must remember that God knows the REASON behind my serving… If I’m helping hungry children because it’s EASY, or because then I feel good- am I doing it rightly? Or am I really putting them first? My guess is that if I really look inside myself, I will find that mostly, the “nice” things I do for others is also “easy”. I need to continue to do those things, but also start to look outside of easy.