Good Morning! I'm your host Lonnie Wibberding, and you are listening to God Notes. A daily devotional podcast sent out from sunny Southern California.
Today is Tuesday, January 8, 2024.
The last couple of years I seen division happening between people who were friends a couple months ago. Divisions over vaccinations and politics. More division than I've seen in my life I think. And I think it's worth taking a step back and contemplate what's going on.
Unless we intentionally slow down and pay attention, we don't always see what is going on inside of us. Our eyes are focused outward. We see other people doing bad things, and are quick to judge their motives.
I'm not trying to pick on one person. We all do it, because we can't see others motives. We don't know why they do the things they do. We can't peak into their heads and follow their thought process. And we don't know many of their life experiences that brought them to the place they are at.
On the other hand, we are more familiar with our own motives. We know our own life experience, and have good reasons for making the choices we make. We are good people because we are logical and reasonable. We know we've made good decisions for our situation because we know how we arrived at those decisions.
Into this condition of the human experience Jesus gives us insight, and a solution!
In Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus is speaking. He says:
7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
This self-awareness Jesus speaks of may be just the key to reach out and renew some of these friendships that have been strained.
Jesus is a pretty smart guy. . .
May God Bless your day. We'll talk again tomorrow.