Overcoming my Limitations
I was thinking about Jesus this morning and realized what a Pharisee I am.
It all started when I was thinking about the derogatory word “sheeple” in reference to people who follow the pack rather than think for themselves. This led to me think about Jesus referring to himself as a shepherd and the people around him as lambs. Then, I tried to imagine someone coming along today who was constantly showing fruit of the spirit and saying the exact same words Jesus said…and I realized I would react the exact same way the Pharisees did. Ok, maybe not exactly. I wouldn’t want the person to be crucified, but I would certainly NOT think that the person was Jesus since, in my mind, he would automatically be prideful and self righteous by claiming to be Jesus.
I would be offended that someone tried to put themselves on the same pedestal as I have Jesus on.
Then, I thought about why that would offend me. I don’t mind kneeling before Jesus, so why would I mind kneeling before anyone since, as Christians, we should humble ourselves…period? Then I thought about Jesus saying to his disciples "I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward." I went back to thinking about the reference to “sheeple” and thought about being considered a sheep and how often humans do act like sheep, listening to the media and believing everything we are told, following the crowd because everyone else is going there so it must be the place to go, going our own way and getting ‘lost’.
I don’t want to be a sheep, but in not wanting to be a sheep, I discovered that I act more like a sheep than ever! In not wanting to put someone in Jesus’ rightful place, I am acting just like the Pharisees looked at Jesus for putting himself in the place of God. "Who are you to judge ME?" I would rather look at the person who corrects me with scorn for ‘judging me’ rather than humbling myself and looking in the mirror at my actions.
How often do any of us do this? Isn’t this part of Jesus’ reference to the speck someone else’s eye and the log in our own? He said that we should remove the log from our own eye before trying to remove the speck from someone else’s. In other words, we should look at our own behaviors and see where we fall short before attempting to correct someone else. We should humble ourselves and when we do, we don’t give anyone a foothold to shame us, because we can say, “Yes, you are right. I did that. This is what I have done to correct it. It was wrong of me to do that. I have been doing my best to correct that flaw in my behavior.” Rather than becoming defensive and allowing our accuser to divert the concern we have in love for one another into humiliation. We can’t be humiliated if we have already humbled ourselves.
So, am I one of the “sheeple”? Yes, I hope so. I hope that I am one of the sheeple that follow the Shepherd. I hope that instead of worrying about someone claiming to be Jesus, I can treat everyone as though they were Jesus and humble myself before everyone, thinking that I am no better than anyone. Since I am one of the Pharisees who would not recognize Jesus when he comes, I need to be making sure all the more that I treat everyone like Jesus. When I fall short of the fruit bearing spirit, I hope that people correct me in love and I need to look for the love in their correction. When those I love fall short, I hope that they will accept a humble correction from me given in love. Throughout it all I will continue praying that the Lord will guide us all and protect all of us from ourselves, one another, temptation and evil. I pray that He lets only the learning experiences through that will bring us closer to Him and that in coming closer to Him, earth can be more like heaven.
Matthew 25:31-46
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
God bless
It all started when I was thinking about the derogatory word “sheeple” in reference to people who follow the pack rather than think for themselves. This led to me think about Jesus referring to himself as a shepherd and the people around him as lambs. Then, I tried to imagine someone coming along today who was constantly showing fruit of the spirit and saying the exact same words Jesus said…and I realized I would react the exact same way the Pharisees did. Ok, maybe not exactly. I wouldn’t want the person to be crucified, but I would certainly NOT think that the person was Jesus since, in my mind, he would automatically be prideful and self righteous by claiming to be Jesus.
I would be offended that someone tried to put themselves on the same pedestal as I have Jesus on.
Then, I thought about why that would offend me. I don’t mind kneeling before Jesus, so why would I mind kneeling before anyone since, as Christians, we should humble ourselves…period? Then I thought about Jesus saying to his disciples "I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward." I went back to thinking about the reference to “sheeple” and thought about being considered a sheep and how often humans do act like sheep, listening to the media and believing everything we are told, following the crowd because everyone else is going there so it must be the place to go, going our own way and getting ‘lost’.
I don’t want to be a sheep, but in not wanting to be a sheep, I discovered that I act more like a sheep than ever! In not wanting to put someone in Jesus’ rightful place, I am acting just like the Pharisees looked at Jesus for putting himself in the place of God. "Who are you to judge ME?" I would rather look at the person who corrects me with scorn for ‘judging me’ rather than humbling myself and looking in the mirror at my actions.
How often do any of us do this? Isn’t this part of Jesus’ reference to the speck someone else’s eye and the log in our own? He said that we should remove the log from our own eye before trying to remove the speck from someone else’s. In other words, we should look at our own behaviors and see where we fall short before attempting to correct someone else. We should humble ourselves and when we do, we don’t give anyone a foothold to shame us, because we can say, “Yes, you are right. I did that. This is what I have done to correct it. It was wrong of me to do that. I have been doing my best to correct that flaw in my behavior.” Rather than becoming defensive and allowing our accuser to divert the concern we have in love for one another into humiliation. We can’t be humiliated if we have already humbled ourselves.
So, am I one of the “sheeple”? Yes, I hope so. I hope that I am one of the sheeple that follow the Shepherd. I hope that instead of worrying about someone claiming to be Jesus, I can treat everyone as though they were Jesus and humble myself before everyone, thinking that I am no better than anyone. Since I am one of the Pharisees who would not recognize Jesus when he comes, I need to be making sure all the more that I treat everyone like Jesus. When I fall short of the fruit bearing spirit, I hope that people correct me in love and I need to look for the love in their correction. When those I love fall short, I hope that they will accept a humble correction from me given in love. Throughout it all I will continue praying that the Lord will guide us all and protect all of us from ourselves, one another, temptation and evil. I pray that He lets only the learning experiences through that will bring us closer to Him and that in coming closer to Him, earth can be more like heaven.
Matthew 25:31-46
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
God bless
posted by Dancer | 9:26 AM
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