...when we complain about some type of behavior in others, and we're really honest with ourselves, we have the same problem? Why is that? If you already disagreed, don't waste your time reading further, you aren't ready yet. But if you agree please read on.
I believe that it irritates us simply because our spirit knows we do it as well. Our spirit which is now the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, wants us to notice something that needs to change in us. You see, those of us who call ourselves children of God have given up our spirit and have received Jesus' Holy Spirit in it's place. This Spirit doesn't just lie passively within us but ever moving to change us more into the likeness of Him.
Here's an example, I saw a woman fooling with her phone doing 55-65mph... sometimes 55, sometimes 65 and with no continuity and a bit erratic. When I passed her I saw her messing with her phone, texting or checking messages or something. She was all over the place. I asked myself outloud, "Why do people have to do that when they are driving? Don't they know how dangerous that is?" Then within 10 minutes of my little rant, I found myself trying to change the music on my iPod while driving. I try to wait for red lights but still they usually turn green and I'm still sitting there. No difference really. I heard the Spirit speak to me, "Are you any different than the woman you complained about?" Then I realized that I had read about this very thing that morning.
I'm reading The Message, a paraphrased book of the Bible this year. It puts the hard to understand into plain english of today. I was reading Isaiah 53 and actually was kind of stuck on it for a whole week, reading and re-reading it. In the segment:2-6 it is pointing out that Jesus was simply a mirror. When His persecutors looked at him and pointed out all He was doing wrong, they were really pointing out all their own faults, because He was convicting them of their sins. He was simply a mirror. When anyone looked at him they only saw their own faults and ugliness. The sin was all ours, certainly not His.
It's the same thing when we complain of something or someone else, it's only because they are a mirror and many times we don't see that. So the next time you want to point out something someone else is doing that irritates you, just pause and ask Jesus, "Why does this bother me so?" "What am I supposed to learn from this?" I think you will really grow when you hear the answer. This is the grace that is so elusive at times, this is the key to peace that surpasses all understanding and the end of judgement. When we fully grasp this and realize it, we will be forever changed yet again by His amazing love.
Isaiah 53
1 Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this? 2-6The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.
7-9He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he'd never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn't true.
10Still, it's what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.
11-12Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many "righteous ones,"
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
What examples can you think of? Do you have any that you think don't apply here? Let me know, I'd like to hear them.
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