WATCHWORD:
When they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. Mark 4:34
Meditation:
Self-pity
NOTE TO SELF: You Are Such A Twit! Stanley B, it is just astounding how stupid and ignorant you can be about yourself. You go through each day faking it, not even recognizing the laziness, and pride you have when it’s right there displayed in front of you. Talk about your blind Pharisees! I don’t know what else to think.
SELF REPLIES: Well look at you, Mr. Self-pity! You call yourself a child of God, or is that just a wish. You seem to be struggling to understand who you are and if you ever came to an understanding, would you do anything about it? Do you know what understanding yourself means? That is the hallmark of pride. You have to get rid of the idea that you understand yourself, because the only one who truly understands is God. For God knows everything about you, and I mean everything, the good, the bad, the ugly, are all known to Him.
End of conversation with self — but aren’t there times when we get down on ourselves? When we struggle to get through rough spots, or maybe a touch of the flu has turned into a marathon of not quite feeling well? Or maybe you find yourself comparing yourself with people in your group that you admire and you think you fall short. Get over that, get through that. Move on. You know you are a Child of God. Rest in that.
Think about this. If we ever had even a glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we would not waste our breath saying, what is said in that first paragraph. We would never say ‘I’m unworthy’ because it is so obvious. We shed those dirty rags of our old life when we gave it all to Christ. The only remnant is our inability to let it all go. We dredge up the past and examine it, and in examining it, it colors our present mind-set. We have been given the cure for this burst of self-chastisement: Jesus tells us – ‘Come to Me’.
Oswald Chambers, in this morning’s devotional asks the question: “Have you ever been alone with God?” Then he tells us, “When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, a broken friendship… when He gets us absolutely alone and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then he begins to teach us… Jesus cannot teach us anything until we quiet all our questions and get alone with Him.”
Quiet time with Jesus can be so fulfilling. Scrap your pride, surrender yourself to the Lord and be a teachable Child of God. Amen.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly father, I offer myself to You today. Forgive me for when I’ve been reluctant or hesitant or prideful, or disinterested. Have Your way, let Your purposes come forth within me. Give me a new boldness, a new hunger, a new thirst, a new inner awareness. Let the love of the Lord grow in my heart as it has never done before and lead me to new opportunities to be truly Your child in Your Kingdom. I want to be faithful to what you created me to be and to do. Open my heart to the lessons you are teaching, and encourage and strengthen me and those around me. In Jesus name. Amen.
