Monday, February 23, 2009

What I Learned This Week: 1st Edition


What did I learn this week?  It's pretty simple, really.  I learned that I'm just as sinful as the next guy... or girl.

In the last 7 days or so I've gotten pretty miffed, steamed, and quite ticked off at various people at church.  {gasp}  Yes, you heard me right.  At church.  Let me tell you... I was quite justified in every one of those incidents, too.  {ahem}

Strange thing happened, though.  Within 24 hours of each of those incidents I was making demands within my own heart that each of those offenders had made of me.  Oh, I never spoke them out loud to anyone, but I know what was going on in my thoughts.  God made it glaringly clear to me that I am JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.  A sinner.  {sigh}

You know what?  That's why I need the grace of God, and it's also why I need to extend grace to others.  We are not perfect, no matter how much I wish I was.  I'm not.  That's why the apostle Paul told us that we need to bear with each other and forgive when there is an offense because we want to look like Christ and have the kind of love we've been called to have in His body. 

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.  - Colossians 3:12-15 (NKJV)

So the next time I get a little crosswise with someone, I'm praying I'll remember I am exactly like them.  Very much in need of grace....and willing to extend some.

~Click on over to Musings of a Housewife to see what other bloggers have learned this week.~

7 comments:

  1. This is a continual lesson in my world and one I am trying to instill my girls' world also. The world is bigger than the perspective you see through your own eyes. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. It's amazing how quick I can point out someone else's sin (especially when it's against me), but how I never seem to recognize my own sin without the prompting and enlightening of God's Word and His Holy Spirit.

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  3. Amen...I struggle with this with my husband who can be...a little controlling. It is so easy for me to point out his faults and yet I ignore mine...and there are A LOT to ignore! Thanks for the reminder!

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  4. Good reminder! Sometimes its hard to remember to "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.". I am often needing to work on that.

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  5. Amen! It is so easy to find our own faults in others and pick them apart.

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  6. Ah yes. this is a lesson I need to learn just about every week. :-) Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Thanks for all the comments. It's true that it's easier to see everyone else's sin. Then when we finally see it, we sometimes try to justify ourselves. Oh, do we need the Lord.

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