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| We all make mistakes. |
The passage I read
was Matthew 23:1-12
You can find that passage here:
The verse that most
stood out to me:
12 For
those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves
will be exalted.
As I reflect:
Ok, so I’ll admit
it. This passage has been a struggle for
me because I have used it to judge in unrighteous ways before. I have used this passage to judge some of my
Jewish friends who wear phylacteries with memorization verses in them and then
post pictures of them doing so in public on facebook so that everyone can see
their holiness.
5 “Everything
they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their
garments long;
There is also the
fact that my Jewish friends call those who facilitate their weekly message, “Rabbi”.
8 “But
you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all
brothers.
I have also used
this passage to judge catholic friends who call a man on stage “father” and
they confess their sins to him to receive his forgiveness on behalf of the
Heavenly Father. Then they bow to a
graven image of Mary as they enter and leave such adorned money palaces. Don’t get me started.
9 And
do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in
heaven.
Judging others aside…
I have my issues too. This passage for
me ends in a verse which strikes fear in me.
Not the kind of fear that is like living in a spirit of fear, but rather
a reverent fear of my Father. The last
verse (verse 12 written above) says that if I am self exalting, God will humble
me. That scares me. That drives a conscious thought pattern to
daily consider whether or not I have began to exalt myself or set myself above
others in any way. Being humbled by God
is certainly something that is at the very least uncomfortable. It can also be completely devastating if need
be though. He can in the blink of an
eye, take away your possessions, your family and friends, your health, and
allow you receive great persecution through it all, if that is what is required
to humble you. I find it much less
painful to simply pay attention to where my finger is pointing and remember
that I too have faults. This is
humbling. It keeps me from believing
that I am in any way better than my Jewish friends (my brother and my sisters)
who use phylacteries, and my Catholic friends (brothers and sisters) who mis label
a man on a stage. I have many faults of
my own; so many in fact that I don’t think I can in any way justify looking at
other’s faults and still have enough time in the day to pay attention to my own. I must daily focus on my walk more than on
others’ so that when I preach, I do not myself become disqualified in the
running because of judging and exalting myself above others.
This week I focused on
humility every day and found that I was nowhere near as humble as I
thought. In fact, for simply having thought
of myself as a humble person, I found that I was instead prideful of my
humility. I have to laugh at that because
I can get caught up in such backward thinking at times. If I can daily remember for one week how
wretched and undeserving of God’s love I am, then perhaps I can go forward from
here remembering daily that lesson and knowing that I bring nothing to the
table that makes me any better than those I have judged. God forgive me.
My response to the
Lord:
My God, I am in need of forgiveness and I receive your
correction. I pray your Holy Spirit
guide me this coming week and every week to follow, that I would not forget
this lesson and end up in need of being humbled. I am wretched and I thank you for loving me
anyway and covering me in the righteous blood of your Savior without which
none, not even one is without sin.
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