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| How we see others is often a reflection of who we ourselves are. |
When God showed me what I am about to show you, it put a
great many things into proper perspective. We have learned well that what we
reap we will sow. It’s an agricultural
statement which Yeshua was making to people who for the most part grew their
own food. If you plant corn, or barley,
or cucumbers, you will get corn, barley or cucumbers. All seed will “bear fruit unto its own kind” (Genesis 1:11, 12). This, of course, applies to humans and
animals in that we have babies that are the same species we are. This applies
to natural seed, but it also applies spiritually. Paul speaks of having “sowed spiritual things in you” (1 Corinthians 9:11).
When we sow seeds of any kind, there will be a crop of
whatever we plant. But how does this work spiritually? If we sow seeds of faith, believing God for
something that we know is His will, we can expect to receive from Him. In that memorable fig tree
incident, “…Jesus…said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you
have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig
tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the
sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:21-23). The apostle John, after many years of living
by the Spirit of God has this to say: “This is the confidence which
we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He
hears us. And
if we know that He hears us in
whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14, 15).
Wait! Aren’t there just too many “if’s” in
that statement? Well, that’s the way of the Kingdom of God. If we, then He! If we will, then He will. Much of what we receive from God is dependent
upon us, upon our faith in Him, and upon living according to Kingdom ways –
living, desiring, speaking, and loving as Yeshua lived, desired, spoke and
loved. Notice this isn’t about works but
about trusting in Him, living from the life of God within us. It’s really not
hard. After all, He lives within us by His Spirit. We are never expected to
“be” like Yeshua on our own; the Spirit of God is within us to empower us be
all God wishes us to be. That’s what
grace is – the empowering to be godly, to be as God is. Grace doesn’t just mean we’re forgiven, grace
means we can live graciously, forgiving and encouraging, meeting needs in
others by the power of the Spirit, just as Yeshua did. As He did all He did trusting in God in
peace, so can we.
I recall one incident when I came to that
realization. It was one of those days when I had tried so hard and failed to be
all I thought I needed to be. I went to
church that morning not feeling the least like a victorious believer. My pastor was praying for a woman in need up
front at one point and asked me to come forward and help. Figuring this wasn’t the best time to tell
him that I wasn’t even sure I was saved, I started up the aisle toward him, all the
while praying: “God, hear my prayer. Please. I’m just going to have to go down
into where You are inside and pray from there.” I was thinking that was what to
do only in times of emergency. When I
laid my hands on the woman and began to pray, it was with power I knew wasn’t
from me. As I walked back to my seat my only thought was, “Oh! That’s how it’s
supposed to be.” From then on, I try to be aware to live from the life of God
within me. That is
the way He meant for us to walk through life – in joyful and peaceful dependence
upon Him. No striving, not trying to be
good or be effective, just doing whatever it is we do while trusting that God is
working through us.
I once did an extensive study to see why
God blessed some people and others seemed far from blessed. I made a chart of
blessings and why, and what seemed like curses and why. In the end I came to see that the difference
was between dependency and independence.
Depending fully upon God, leaning on His goodness and presence with us
leads to the blessings of God, whereas an “I’ll do it myself” way of life
limits us to only who we are. There’s a
saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” But it’s not really Biblical. Benjamin Franklin wrote those words in his Poor
Richard's Almanac in 1757. What is Biblical is that God helps the helpless,. Speaking of God Isaiah said, "for You have been a defense for the
helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a
shade from the heat..." (Isaiah 25:4) Our dependence upon the Lord begins with our
salvation, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Messiah died for
the ungodly." (Romans 5:6). Even Yeshua Himself stated often that He
only did what He envisioned the Father doing. In other words, there was no
independence in Him. Even Yeshua was
entirely dependent upon God to minister to people: “God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with Him” (Acts
10:38).
Perhaps it just occurred to you that Yeshua sowed only
good and loving seed, yet he reaped (received back) rejection and cruelty. That’s
true, but the more important issue for us here is what
was His internal dialog? Did the way
others acted toward Him affect how He behaved toward them? Or did what happened affect His faith in His Father? Or
for that matter, how He saw Himself?
Those last four words don’t seem to quite apply to Yeshua, do they? They seem to be about an ego that we as
fallen people are always wrestling with that He didn’t have. I wonder if He even
had an internal dialog with just Himself, but rather His every thought was in
dialog with His Father. After all, even though He suffered all things as we do,
until His Gethsemane experience where He began to fully experience an identity with the
Fallen nature of man, He wasn’t trapped in any demands of His ego.
But we are. The Fall brought separation from God, as we are all to well aware. Even for those of us who are saved, we still
deal with some measure of separation. But we’re learning day by day, by God's grace, how to live
beyond that in union with Him, aren’t we?
I recall realizing as a new believer that
God ‘heard’ every thought I had so I decided to just think to and with Him. It
has been a way of life for many years, making God my constant companion. Often
He “speaks” back to me in my thoughts, giving me insights and understanding of
something I didn’t have moments before. It may even come in the form of a question
causing me to think through something that hadn’t occurred to me till then. On
occasion He will even say something quite funny to me making me to laugh out
loud with surprise and delight. I’m sure that part of us being created in His
image is that we have a sense of humor because He has a sense of humor. Would joy
be devoid of humor? I doubt it.
I recall the first time I heard Him say
something back to me that seemed funny to me.
I was trying to plow through laundry for three children and get my house
cleaned – ordinary housewife things, but I felt overwhelmed
with getting the job done and then getting dinner ready and said to Him, “Lord, why do some
people seem to have so much more time than I do.” I didn’t expect an answer but
immediately I heard in my thoughts, “Everybody gets 24 hours” causing me to
laugh out loud as much from surprise as that the words came with a sense of
mirth. I’m not sure I would use that word mirth for anyone but Him. Mirth
brings a certain sense of joy or gaity for its own sake.
So how do we avoid having our own ego, our
own self image be affected by the unkindnesses we experience in our lives, for
we all have them. It has to do with what
we sow. Yeshua never sowed an unkind word or thought – ever. Even when He was railing at the Pharisees, He
was trying to get them to see the error of their ways so they wouldn’t perish.
His motive was compassion, not judgment.
He made it clear, “I do not judge… for I did not
come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). We’re all very familiar with John 3:16, but
it is followed by John 3:17 which says, “For
God did not send the Son into
the world to judge the world,
but that the world might be saved
through Him.”
Well, what about us? Do we judge
others? Sometimes we think we are helping people by making them aware of their
sin and there is a place for that. “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any
trespass, you who are spiritual, restore
such a one in a spirit of gentleness;
each one looking to yourself,
so that you too will not be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). Spiritual people
speak with gentleness, not accusing judgment. Yeshua put it this way, “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother,
let me take out the speck that
is in your eye,’ when you
yourself do not see the log that
is in your own eye? You
hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to
take out the speck that is in
your brother’s eye” (Luke
6:42). A hypocrite in those days was one
who acted in a play; who was ‘acting’ as someone they are not. The spiritual
application is one who has the form of godliness
without the power, or who assumes an appearance of piety and virtue, but does
not have a true grasp of true life of the Spirit in restful dependence upon God.
Not judging does not mean we are not to
discern motives. We must discern good from evil, wise from unwise, careful from
dangerous, etc. The Bible is clear about all that. There is even a gift of
discernment that He gives for the benefit of the body. But discernment is not judgment. We are not
to condemn others any more than Yeshua did when He walked the earth - and died - in love and
compassion. How much more love and compassion could be expressed than “Forgive them, Father, for they do now know
what they are doing” (Luke 23:34) on behalf of His murderers? Judgment is God’s job. Only He knows the
hearts of men: “O Lord of
hosts, who judges righteously,
Who tries the feelings and the heart” (Jeremiah 11:20) – “…for God sees
not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at
the heart.” (1 Sam’l 16:7)
Unfortunately we are not as gracious as
Yeshua all the time. So what happens when we do judge? When we sow seeds of
judgment, will we reap a crop of judgment?
Here is the startling reality – at least it was for me when God revealed
this to me. When I judge others, it’s
not that I will necessarily be judged by others, but that I WILL THINK others
are judging me. I plant my own crop of self-judgement when I judge others. Let’s say someone speaks lies about others,
they gossip and speak fabrications of things as they see them, in other words,
opinions which are never the whole story.
The reaping may not be that someone will gossip about them – because
they may be surrounded by godly non-gossiping people – but that they, within
themselves WILL THINK other people are gossiping and saying similar things
about them. We expect people to be as we
are, even though it may well be unconscious. How we see others is a reflection of who we ourselves are (...the reason for the picture of the swans above.) I once knew a man who was involved
in things he knew he shouldn’t be; he was living a lie. He tended to call other
people liars, something the other people wouldn’t have even thought of doing. We all know those people who won’t go to
church because they see Christians as hypocrites. I wonder what place hypocrisy
plays in their lives. What we say about
others often reflects much more about us than those we’re talking about.
Paranoia is the continual awareness
that others are against you. The trouble
is, many of us warrant those thoughts because of the thoughts we have toward
others. We are to be “building one
another up, not for tearing down” (2 Corinthians 10:8). This applies first
of all to the authority of leadership, but to each of us.
There is another side to this and that
is that we often see in others what really is in ourselves that we don’t like
or are trying not to see. It's often been called our "shadow self." This isn’t
psychology; this is Bible truth. What we judge in others may in fact be what
God is trying to make us aware is in ourselves.
I always think of Mother Theresa when I come upon this verse: “To the
pure, all things are pure” (Titus 1:15).
I find it a very convicting verse, how about you? I doubt there was anyone, including the most
destitute and sin-ridden in the world’s gutters for whom she would not feel
loving compassion and be moved to help them. Her heart, for all we know, was
pretty pure and so she saw people as purely worthy of God’s love. What we see in others, often reflects more of
our own character than the people we are judging. Call someone rebellious or arrogant, and if
that’s what you see in them, perhaps there’s a log you need to attend to before
you can show them a better way by your own actions and words.
So there you are: What we say or even
think about others are seeds which will sprout into our own experiences in
life, including in our relationship with ourselves, and certainly with God to whom all judgment belongs. I leave you with these words of Paul who had to learn this himself: “Finally, brothers (and sisters), whatever things are true, whatever
things are noble, whatever
things are just, whatever
things are pure, whatever
things are lovely, whatever
things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which
you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of
peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8,9).
Peace!
