On Sundays, I run the projections at church. I download his sermon notes into the software and follow his sermon with the notes. Last Sunday, as I was looking a few slides ahead, I spotted a misspelled word in one of his sentences. I was so excited he had made a mistake! It made me feel better about all of mine. It kind of put us on equal footing. He had wrote your bind is not the issue, your heart is. I was sure that bind was suppose to be mind, so I made the correction and was so proud of myself for catching it. Well, dang! Sure enough he said bind; he was correct afterall. I was so glad that I hadn't put the slide up yet when he said it, so I was able to correct it quickly back to bind, and get it up on the projector before anyone knew. However, my bubble was busted. I humbly surrender to his superiority in the editing arena. (he will hear this story for the first time when he edits the devotion)
We have heard the saying that misery loves company but I think we like company in our failures as well. It makes our mistakes not seem so big. Comparing ourselves to others can make us feel better about ourselves because there are always people worse than we are. Isn't the reason we gossip about people is because it elevates us? When we start concentrating on others we walk on dangerous ground. It keeps us from focusing on ourselves and if we aren't focusing on ourselves, how can we ever become better? I want to be all God has for me to be and to do that, I need to concentrate on what I need to do and keep my eyes off others. I need to keep striving for that error free devotion!
Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others.
Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
Galatians 6:4-5 (The message)
2 comments:
ok....I need clarification......"God does not care about our bind but He cares about our heart".....in what context is the word bind being used?
now that I have that off my chest......you hit the nail on the head. I think in particular that woman gossip to feel better about themselves. We take our eyes off what God wants us to either change or embrace about ourselves.....because of fears, hurts, an incorrect perception of ourselves etc etc.....and we point our finger and say..."well at least I don't blah blah blah like so and so" Dangerous stuff. I think this whole issue goes hand in hand with the Meltdowns you talked about several devotions ago. We let feelings, hormones, emotions rule instead of the part of our heart and mind where the Holy Spirit speaks to us. We have a choice over our words....including gossip.
I admit that I have a strong tendency to listen to and share gossip. That is hard to admit. But it is the truth. And I think it is because of some of my own "self -talk" and lies that I believe about who I am.
But I am fighting it. Clawing my way out to of the pit that is filled with lies ;)
ok...thank you for letting my use your blog as my own personal confessional and therapy session. :)
It is so true that sometimes we compare ourselves to others so that we might feel better about ourselves. The power of the mouth is amazing...you can make or break something with only a few words. We are warned about our tounges many times in the book of Proverbs.
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