Influencers Weekly Devotional

A Sincere Effort by

Rocky Fleming

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart” 1 Peter 1:22

It is true that people generally think of themselves as right most of the time, and others wrong. Think about it. Don't we often compare other people's behaviors, actions or choices with what we would chose? It seems so simple to take a hard stand against something that another person struggles with, for we can see things so clearly that he doesn't, or at least we think we can. Trouble is, we don't have a complete perspective and it is so easy to point of the faults of another person. Question: Where is sincere brotherly love in this perspective? Another example is our personal preference over others, and the righteous indignation we have against people who don't share this preference. I am amazed at how judgmental some Christians can be of other Christians when it comes to styles of worship, styles of dress when going to church, material possessions, voting preference, denominational preference, etc. When I see these strong opinions being openly expressed, I cannot help but also observe the “I'm right and they are wrong” attitude I am seeing. Can this attitude ever be thought or expressed without our own failure with spiritual pride? When will we ever learn that this pride that causes us to judge others as wrong is a far more grievous fault with God than wearing flip-flops to church, or someone having a different style of worship than we prefer? God, by His grace, has given to Christians a tremendous amount of freedom to worship and live life with Him that we might not understand, and we could be convinced “the jail” we live in is the right way. Pardon my enthusiasm on the subject, but I must ask who has given any person the right to be judge, juror and executioner of another Christian? It is not the Father who has done it. In fact, He is very clear to point out in scripture that we do not have the right, and if we follow this path, we will be at odds with Him. Look at what Jesus said: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 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? 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? 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.” Matthew 7: 1-5 Why is this judging and condemning of others so offensive to God? It is because in doing so we assume a divine perspective and prerogative which is reserved only for God. Only He can know all the facts of what is truly right and wrong, and know what to do with them. If we think our denomination or preference or insight or our take on things or way of doing things is the way and the truth, we are wrong from the get-go and are in fact guilty of a heinous action against the God we think we are speaking for. If we think our preference or insight is all seeing and all knowing then we are declaring ourselves equal with God, and this is a big, big problem. I cannot think of anything that we could do that would be as offensive to God as this. The Apostle Peter, in the passage above, says that obedience to the truth purifies our souls. He also connects this truth and our obedience to it to a sincere brotherly love. He then expounds on it by saying that this brotherly love should be given from a pure heart. These simple truths are like a domino effect that by following them we will be blessed, as well our relationships. They also point out how factious and tainted our view of another person can be when we would presume to make ourselves equal to God with our limited insight of a person or the way things should be done. Now I'm not talking about clear and blatant sin that we have observed in another person. God's word points these sins out, and there is no judgement required on our part. What I am speaking of are those things that are not clear in God's word, and are only a personal preference on our part. This is where our pride can take over our perspective, and why we must be careful with how we view another person or a freedom that he has, but we do not personally have. Remembering how limited perspective is could also help us with how to respond to a broken relationship with another person. Because I've made some judgment mistakes in processing an offense against me by another person, I've learned to slow down my emotions and seek God's perspective first. Maybe these guidelines will help you: Ask God to open my eyes: Remember, our tendency is to think ourselves righteous and the other person wrong. The first thing I feel I need to do to be sincere is ask God to reveal any blind spots in my perspective about the person. I must seek God's answer as to whether there is any pride in my perspective, or something I'm not seeing about the situation. If I have offended, ask for forgiveness: It takes a lot of courage, but a sincere desire to see things as Christ does requires us to humble ourself and initiate reconciliation. If there is no question in my mind as to whether I've offended another person, then I must own it and repair it. This is a sincere expression of brotherly love, and one God delights in. If I have been offended, forgive: In this quid pro quo(this for that) world that we live in,it is the exception to not demand our rights and justice for our self. We think that an offense against us should give us the right to offend in return. However, Jesus gave us a different perspective. He said to forgive, for this is the divine perspective He wants us to adopt for ourselves. He said to love our enemy and serve those who abuse us, for in doing so we show ourselves to be His disciple, and being His disciple requires that we adopt His perspective. To not react the way the world has taught us but rather the way Christ has taught us is a divine perspective that pleases God. And, to follow this course of action when offended by a bother is a sincere expression of brotherly love. We can see it as a competitive race that we must choose to run, and if we want to win it, we will have to see things God's way. Some would ask, “How can I forgive someone who doesn't know or care that he has offended me, and doesn't care to reconcile?” There's a simple solution to this dilemma. It is to worship God by granting forgiveness to this person without his knowledge or action, and to pray for him. This is a divine perspective that keeps our hearts pure before God, and allows Him to grant us insight while we wait on His work in the other person's life. Reconciliation requires two people to see the relationship God's way, and God asks each of us to do only our part. If there is ignorance of an offense or defiance by our offender against admitting it, we can only do our part to reconcile. Remember: When we forgive another person his sin against us, we are giving this forgiveness as an act of worship to God. When we are blessed to be reconciled with a brother, it is God's gift to us. We must simply but sincerely do our part with a sincere effort, and allow God to bring back that which was lost when the time is right. At the heart of all this is that we make a sincere effort to see things God's way. Let Him be your guide, not your pride, and you will fulfill the truth of having sincere, brotherly love. Download file