Hello Everyone,
Welcome to Soul Survival.
Last week I shared an important piece of my testimony. It happened almost 20 years ago but it rocked my walk with God and my husband’s, as well. The change that God did through it eventually rippled out into every part of our lives.
It led us on a journey of discovery into God’s Word. We learned just how practical and powerful the Bible is to change our everyday lives. We began to understand how words penned thousands of years ago contain principles God calls us to live by today.
But we also came to realize that it’s not a boring, limiting way to live, it’s a better way to live! It is the way to peace, joy, and contentment in the midst of a fallen, imperfect world.
This didn’t happen because my husband and I are special people but because these life-changing, soul-rocking principles come from the Word of God. And as I said last week, God’s Word is that powerful!
I know these principles can rock your walk with God and, consequently, your life, too.
So, today I’m going to talk about a principle that will not only rock our lives personally if we live by it but will lay the foundation for understanding and obeying the other principles we find in God’s Word.
Rock Your Faith: The Danger of Self-Imposed Blindness
One of the messianic signs the Jewish people were told to watch for was someone who would open blind eyes (Is. 42.7). And when John the Baptist was in prison, perhaps doubting his calling and purpose, he sent his disciples to ask if Jesus was really that One:
2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matt. 11.4-6).
Jesus reminded John of the Old Testament prophecies and the signs of the Messiah including that the blind would see.
Jesus healed the blind on many occasions (Matt. 9.27-31, 12.22, 15.30, 21.14; Mk. 10.46-52; Jn. 9.1-7). But while He was concerned about people’s physical blindness, He was more concerned about their spiritual blindness. In fact, the physical healing was often the opportunity to show them their spiritual blindness.
1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (Jn. 9.1-5).
Spiritual Blindness
When my husband Mike and I have the opportunity to walk alongside someone in counseling and discipleship, we often camp out for a while in the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7.
We might say this was the inaugural address of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus was saying this is how life is in my kingdom.
In this series, we will talk about a number of the important truths He taught in that sermon. But today, I’d like to focus on one that can help us see and understand the ones we will cover in the weeks to come.
Matthew 7.1-5:
1 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye (NLT).
I love Jesus’ use of hyperbole here to drive home His point. We all know what it feels like to get something in our eyes. They water and our vision is blurred. It’s hard to see anything. All we can think of is getting whatever it is out.
Yet, in our pride, we think we can see the faults of others clearly and should not just point them out but take them out. All the while, we have logs sticking out of our own eyes and our vision is blurred. We fail to see them clearly and we fail to see ourselves clearly, as well.
I hope I’m not the only one but before God began dealing with me on this issue, I did not respond well to any kind of speck removal. As a pleaser, anything that said I wasn’t all that pleasing didn’t go down well. And truth be known, it’s a tendency that I must take to Him repeatedly.
And I was good at finding fault in others. But here was God telling me I didn’t just have specks, I had giant telephone poles sticking out of my eye!
Jesus calls us hypocrites when we persist in trying to fix others when we can’t or won’t see ourselves clearly. That’s a term He usually reserved for the religious leaders who rejected Him.
The Effects of Spiritual Blindness
Spiritual blindness can affect us in many different ways. First, it can keep us from understanding and believing the Gospel. If I think I’m basically OK, a good person with a few minor character flaws, why would I need a Savior?
It can affect our ongoing relationship with God. Sin does that. It’s not that we lose our salvation or that He quits loving us, but we won’t hear Him clearly. We’ll avoid anything that convicts us of sin, especially the ones we justify holding on to. We end up like Adam and Eve trying to hide from God in the garden.
It messes up our relationships with others. No one enjoys hanging out with a hypocrite, someone who is critical of them and others while acting un-Christlike themselves, someone who never admits they’re wrong and who tries to fix everyone but themselves.
To Judge or Not
Notice that Jesus didn’t say that we are never to remove specks from the eyes of others. In fact, in verse 5 He says, “… then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
Some people have mistakenly taken verses 1 and 2 to mean, we should never judge the actions of others or that we have no right to speak truth or help others grow and change.
But that contradicts other passages of Scripture including Galatians 6.1-2 and Proverbs 27.5-6.
Let’s look at verses 1 and 2 again:
1 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
We should not think we are in a position to judge the hearts and motives of others, at least not completely as only God can. That doesn’t mean we never judge behavior.
But when we do, we need to use the right standard (v. 2). We will only see and understand that standard if we first judge ourselves by getting rid of our own logs. In the process, we come to see how much we have been forgiven and how much grace we need every day.
Only then, can we see others clearly, by seeing them through the lens of God’s grace and mercy. In the process, we may discover that many of the things for which we judge others, are not sin issues at all or even when they are, they’re the very things God is using to expose our own sinful logs.
Becoming Good Eye Surgeons
I’m squeamish about my eyes anyway so I definitely don’t want anyone doing speck removal who is not a careful, gentle surgeon. You are probably the same. Notice Jesus’ statement in verse 2, “The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” If we want others to be gentle with us, we must seek to be gentle ourselves.
Let’s look closer at the two passages I mentioned above.
Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6.1-2).
Better is open rebuke
Than love that is concealed.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy (Prov. 27.5-6).
Bearing one another’s burdens and being a faithful friend requires being a godly surgeon and rebuker. I would add it’s also required for being a faithful spouse, parent, counselor, discipler, or fellow church member.
That can only happen when we first allow God to do surgery on our hearts and continue to do so throughout our walks with Him.
Preparing for Surgery
So, how do we get ready for God’s surgery?
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12.1-2).
I’ve had emergency surgery. I didn’t necessarily want to but it had to be done. God is the perfect Surgeon and He can certainly do that kind of surgery. But it seems to me that He is asking us to present our bodies to Him and allow Him to do a work in us. That requires trust and submission to His will. It requires having the will and the desire to do what pleases Him. Yet, even that comes from Him (Phil. 2.13).
We do that by exposing ourselves to the Word of God with humble hearts and asking God to show us where we are not living to please Him (2 Cor. 5.9).
Since Jesus told us the greatest commandments are to love God and to love others and, in fact, all the law and the prophets are summed up in those two (Matt. 22.36-40) that might be a good place to start.
One of the most concise passages on God’s love is one we too often reserve for weddings, 1 Corinthians 13.4-7.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
I’ve written on this before and I’ll list a couple of those posts at the bottom, but it’s too crucial to this discussion not to cover it again because these verses are some of the most precise and practical scalpels in the Scriptures.
Read it carefully, phrase by phrase. God’s description of love hits us right where we live.
Love is patient. Was I patient today? Or was I impatient with my spouse, my children, my co-worker? If I was impatient, did I ask God to forgive me? Did I seek forgiveness from the one I sinned against?
Love is kind. Was I kind today? Or was I unkind with the forgetful waitress? with my husband? with my wife? If I was unkind, did I ask God to forgive me? Did I seek forgiveness from the one I sinned against?
Take these characteristics one by one. Asking the same questions. Be specific. Name those people you are tempted to criticize or treat in some unloving way.
I sometimes give this as homework when I’m counseling. I ask my counselees to do this daily. It is amazing the work this simple exercise can do in a relatively short time.
When we talk about it later, my counselees will often say things like:
“Wow, the first few days this was hard. I had to admit I was constantly impatient and unkind. I was being rude and feeling justified about it. I realized I was constantly keeping a record of wrongs! But as the days went on when I was tempted, I started to hear that verse in my mind and I’d stop.”
Of course, this requires following through and asking for forgiveness from God and others. As we do, God softens and humbles our hearts and changes us from the inside out. Our vision begins to clear and we begin to see others clearly.
Humbling ourselves and asking for forgiveness when necessary in turn often softens the heart of the other person and makes them more willing to receive correction or input from us. It can also give them a desire for the change they see in us.
This isn’t a magic formula. And we don’t get to say, “Well, I tried that but my husband or wife or child or co-worker didn’t change.” God calls us to be faithful, to submit our hearts to Him, to obey, and to rely on Him. He does the work in us and in others as He sees fit. But we can experience His peace and joy whether other people or our circumstances ever change.
In future posts in this series, we will look at other passages that have the potential to “Rock Your Faith.”
Be sure to sign up for the weekly newsletter so you won’t miss any of them.
Coming Up in the Daily Posts:
In the daily posts, we’ll be talking about being a fool for God, the downward spiral that sin can take us on, becoming bored with God, fear, facing storms, and when friends betray us.
You can sign up for those, as well.
Blessings,
Donna
This Week’s Most Read Post:
“10 Steps to Parenting God’s Way”
God’s Word has so much to say about parenting. In fact, the Bible itself is the words of the perfect Father to His children. One of the most important things we can do is to help our children come to know Him and learn to obey Him.
A Round-Up of Other Recent Posts:
“Is Jesus Lord of Your Opinions?” March 28
“When to Help & When to Get Out of the Way” March 27
“Can We Know the Future?” March 26
“Are You Tempted to Turn Back?” March 25
“Could Self-Righteousness Keep You Out of Heaven?” March 24
“Remember What, Remember Who, Remember Why” March 23
Rock Your Faith Walk & Last Week’s Roundup
“A Change of Thinking that Could Rock Your World” March 21
I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.
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