09-19-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 19, 2023
This coming Sunday, we will begin a new series where we will talk about the importance of the "one." In our culture, we have a strange game we play based on where we believe someone falls on our "worthiness" scale. A lot of folks pretend they don’t have such a scale, but a whole host of things play into our opinions on someone’s worth, and a lot of that happens without us even realizing it. If we read about someone who is lazy, rude, or dangerous, we might find ourselves making generalizations for everyone who fits the category based on similarity of age, race, social hierarchy, family name, kind of car s/he drives, etc. It takes a lot of intentional effort and self-awareness not to do so. For that reason, simply saying, "I don’t judge people," and thinking the statement puts you in a neutral place is wishful thinking.

Jesus taught us about the importance of not being consumed by the speck in someone else’s eye without taking note of the log in our own eye. I wonder if we become so fixated on the thought of the speck that others who look, speak, act, or come from the same part of town as that one person with the speck are all assumed to be speck people… even though the darn log in our own eye does not allow us to actually get a good enough view to see. Just this past weekend, without going into a lot of details, I made a generalization about someone without knowing them and without even realizing I had done so. About twelve hours later, my assumption was totally obliterated. Since then, I have spent some time in prayer reflecting on why, in some sort of unconscious way, I formed an opinion that was entirely baseless. I hope the experience has challenged me and continues to push me to think more deeply about why the pesky speck was so bothersome in the first place and why I attached other opinions to it.

For your goodness and kindness, O God, that I claim are extended to all, I beg for a bit more of that goodness and kindness to reside within me. I can make assumptions about assumptions without even realizing I’m doing it, yet what is forming in my subconscious is not Christ-like. Keep me working on myself as I seek to be the best person I can be. Amen.