If you know me or have read this blog for a while, you know
that I have 2 daughters. They are 21 months apart and they love each other
dearly. However, they also go at it…daily! It usually starts out with one of
them telling the other what they should be doing or telling me or their dad what
the other is doing wrong. In most cases, the one doing the telling just
finished doing whatever they are telling about themselves. For instance, Sanai
will say, “Kennedi just wrote all over the walls with crayon.” I go survey the
scene and the crayon reaches higher than Kennedi can reach. Sanai is so focused
on what Kennedi did that she fails to see herself and her part in the action. It’s
so easy to see what everyone else is doing wrong, but it’s often tremendously
hard to see yourself. When God showed me
that analogy, my eyes popped open! I got it! As we are moving into this new
year and season, we have to see ourselves with conviction and clarity so that
we don’t hinder our own walk and growth.
In both Matthew 7 and Luke 6, Jesus teaches about judging
others and asks a very profound question. “Why
do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention
to the plank in your own eye?” (Matt. 7:3 NIV) He instructs us to remove the plank from our
own eye so that we can see to help our brother or sister. It is so important
not to judge for those reasons but I think we sometimes move too quickly past
the self-examination process in that verse. It takes prayer, fasting and a
willing spirit to look in yourself and see what you need to do to walk cleaner,
taller, and better. I’m a witness! I believe God gave me Sanai and Kennedi so
that I could see myself. Whenever I find myself getting upset with them for
something, often I can trace it back to something I have said or done and I
have to repent. Are you seeing yourself
clearly today?
Paul gives a great lesson on self-examination in 2
Corinthians 13. He is writing to the Church at Corinth for the third time and
he wants them to get it! He says some key things in verses 5 -8 that really
spoke to me. “Examine
yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not
realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
And I trust that you will discover that
we have not failed the test. Now we pray to God
that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have
stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to
have failed. For we cannot
do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.” Did you see? He is reminding
us that we have to be sure to look at ourselves and know that Christ is in us
and if we get it wrong, work on it. It’s not for the benefit of others, but for
us. He’s very clear in the next few verses that he is telling them that so that
they are built up and not torn down. God wants us to be our very best! It’s
like being a knight in shining armor and knowing how you are supposed to look but
you allow your armor to get rusty and don’t acknowledge the rust or make any
efforts to restore the shine.
Folks, besides God, you know yourself the best. Take a look at
yourself and see what’s in need of an upgrade, and then ask God for direction.
I challenge you to seek Him for clarity about who you are and your walk. You don’t need an appointment and you don’t
have to pay an hourly fee, He’s always available and He always has the answer. We’re moving forward this year and the last
thing we want to stop our momentum is ourselves.
Be blessed…AMEN
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