Are there people in your life that you look at with log-vision? Impossible individuals who make your mind shut down and skin crawl? And ouch, people who you discern have a stronghold that they need to deal with that make them unfit to ministry?
I must confess that there are some people that I just can't or won't receive from. Not because what they share or do is off biblically. Not because they are walking in some hideous sin.
No, I can't receive from them because there is something about them that rubs me the wrong way. The way they pray, something they've said to me in the past that irked me, their hairstyle, their weight, silly external things that somehow corrupt their ministry in my mind because it reveals a deeper attitude, stronghold or sin that they haven't dealt with.
Wow, I'm shallow. Or am I afraid? Afraid that if I receive their 'tainted' interpretation that I would somehow be led astray or worse, fall into the same sin or weakness that they apparently still struggle against.
If I am honest with myself, it's much more the second option than the first. People who bug me the most are those who still struggle with areas or strongholds that I've battled against. Maybe my sensitivity to those folks is actually pointing out that I have yet to gain complete freedom in the same areas that they so obviously still struggle.
Remember the parable about the log and the speck? Yep, seems to me that I have a huge log sticking out of my eyeballs and I have been smacking those poor folks upside the head with it.
Our wrong attitudes towards our speck offenders are made all the more valid in our minds when most people around us agree with our assessment of these odious humans. So, is that proof of their invalidity or is it instead proof of a pandemic stronghold within the body? Ooch!
If we disapprove of these people so adamantly, how do we get to a place where we can bear to view them with grace and compassion? Seems to me we need to, first of all repent, then we need to don some flannel and become spiritual lumberjacks. Take up the chainsaw of repentance, hack off our logs and stop bludgeoning folks with our judgments. Easier said than done, you say. Tell me about it!
Maybe once we start making firewood, we will begin to see the wounds we've inflicted with our self-righteous logs of judgmental doom. Wounds, not only on the offensive folks, but the more severe self inflictions of unforgiveness, self-judgment, guilt, and condemnation that we've heaped on ourselves. We also need to go help our agreeing brothers and sisters remove the log, that our words and attitudes towards the offenders, helped fertilize.
So, to sum up, if something about a person makes you snarl or snap, instead of reacting in your flesh and finding a 'spiritual' justification, try stopping and checking for logs by examining your own heart first.
We must be on the same wavelength, sistah. I've been ruminating on the same thing this past week. I think it also has to do with our perceptions of what's a "bad" sin. For instance, everyone has a fit when they find out their son's cub scout leader is gay but would they have as big of a fit if they found out he was cheating on his wife? I think not. We need to commit to each other to point out when we need to start logging. and not get offended when someone tells us to start chopping.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it also has to do a little bit with the idea that anyone in ministry should have all their crap together. Which, in a way, is true but you aren't going to find someone who doesn't have any baggage or things they still need to deal with.
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