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The Amish Voice 6
be examining and judging our own lives, not the life of a
fallen brother. Scripture is forceful on this point:
every man
is
to keep busy examining
his own
work and life, and no man is
exempt. There is so much evil flying around the world and the
flesh is so weak that it is difficult for a person to remain
unsoiled and clean. The flesh lusts…
Of course, every one of these desires is needful and beneficial
until it crosses over into the forbidden or is taken too far.
Tasting food is good; tasting too much food is bad. Wanting
recognition is good; loving recognition is sin.
The point is that temptation just swirls around us—all of us.
Therefore, we must be busy examining and judging ourselves
and not others. In fact, so much temptation swirls around us
that if we lower our guard to examine and judge others, we are
immediately overcome by sin ourselves. Remember:
criticizing and judging others is sin; therefore, by turning
away from examining ourselves to judging others, we
have sinned.
We must measure ourselves against the Word of God, not
against others. Our attitude toward others is to be that of love
and care, ministry and restoration, not criticism and judgment.
Note that the believer who constantly examines himself has
reason to rejoice in himself and not only in others. It is when
our hearts and lives are pure that joy fills us. Nothing fills us
with joy as much as a pure conscience. True, we do joy when
we see others walking as they should, but deep joy comes
from knowing that we ourselves are pleasing God by the way
we walk.
“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine
own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out
the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Mt.7:5).
7.
SEVENTH,
REALIZE
YOUR
OWN
RESPONSIBILITY (v.5).
The point of this verse is to warn the believer: he is personally
responsible to the Lord for his own behavior and shall be
judged for what he has done. Every believer has his own
burdens, his own weight of faults and sins to bear. It is these
that he is to be carrying, looking after, examining, and
judging. He can never overcome them unless he gets his eyes
off the failure of others and concentrates on the burden of his
own failure.
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men
shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day
of judgment” (Mt.12:36).
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in
his body, according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad” (2 Co.5:10).
QUESTIONS:
1. Who is to be the model for your life?
2. How can you keep from judging and criticizing others?
3. Do you ever examine yourself? What things need to be on
your personal checklist?
4. Grade yourself on how you’ve done this past week. Have
you passed or failed in these areas?
_____ Had a daily worship or devotional time?
_____ Attended church and Bible study?
SUMMARY:
You now have in your possession a great treasure—a treasure
that has the power to grant another chance. God has called each
one of us to be a “Wounded Healer.” As a reminder, this is how
restoration is to be done:
1. First, let the spiritual believers handle the matter.
QUESTIONS:
1. When are you least likely to own up to your
responsibilities? Why?
2. What kind of failures in others capture your attention? Why?
3. Who do you tend to shift the blame on the most when things
do not go your way?
_____God
_____Someone in your family
_____Your employer
_____Your circumstances
_____Yourself
for acceptance
for recognition
for position
for honor
for compensation
for approval
to look
to taste
to feel
to do
to have
to experience
_____ Witnessed to someone about Christ?
_____ Prayed for those who are backsliding?
_____ Used your time wisely with your family/friends?
_____ Spent your money wisely?
_____ Encouraged or met the needs of others?
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