Day 234:What About Us?

Luke 6:42

How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye…

We’ve talked about this scripture multiple times, but today I want to speak on it from a semi-different perspective than usual. Today I want to talk about us, we are so concerned with everyone else and their life but what about us? We sometimes forget that preaching and teaching the word of God isn’t the same as living it out.  We are so focused on leaving our footprint on the world that we forget to not only see ourselves but also what’s right in front of us. We’re focused on changing the world when we haven’t changed ourselves. It’s like giving directions, if we have never been to the place how can we show someone how to get there? If we don’t know if it’s a left turn or a right turn, how can we give accurate directions? It’s the same when we are serving Christ, for some reason people seem to believe that they can tell someone else how to live when they are nowhere near close to getting it right. We as humans so often point out the mistakes in others while forgetting that we ourselves are walking on a fine line. We have some skeletons in our closet that will soon start falling out if we’re not careful. We must learn to check ourselves before we try to check anyone else, or we’ll end up falling while trying to break someone else’s fall. Meaning, if we are not secure in Christ we cannot teach someone else to have a solid foundation in Him, because we aren’t stable ourselves. Going a little further, what about our souls?

We often forget to check in with ourselves because we are focused on the souls of those who have not yet given their lives to Christ. However, sometimes we have to stop and check ourselves. Sometimes we have to take the time to heal our own souls. We have to take care of ourselves or we are no use to anyone else. While we are preaching about how important it is to have a relationship with God, grow, and feed our soul we have to make sure that in the meantime our soul isn’t starving . Our praying for others, and preaching, and our good deeds do not take the place of us spending time with God. It does not take the place of spending time in His word, and praying. Don’t allow yourself to be weakened because you are spending all of your time strengthening others. We must practice what we preach on every level, not just when it comes to preaching about or against sin.  

All this to say, if you’re going to tell someone how to live you better make sure you have yourself together first. Take care of your soul before you take care of someone else’s. We can’t talk to anyone else about their relationship with God when ours is either non-existent, complicated or on the rocks. We must make sure that we are living a life that is holy and acceptable to God so that we won’t just be talking about it, but we will be an example to those searching and lost. Our words can only go so far, our actions, our love, and how we live speak much louder.

Reflection

1. Do you feel that as a Christian you spend more time teaching others how to live as opposed to actually living what you preach?
2. Is your soul healthy?
3. How’s your relationship with God?

Prayer

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about whatever you feel led to speak with Him about today. Have an honest conversation with God.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 235!