We had a bible study on "Respect" tonight at Washington.Respect God (that one's an understatement)
Respect your spouse
Respect others
The thing that struck me is that, when the Bible talks about esteeming your brother higher than yourself, it gives no qualifications. None. Esteem your brother higher than yourself. Wait...you mean all my brothers...even that whiney one who never says anything intelligent? (I didn't have anyone in mind there so relax) Yes, even that one. Wait...Even that one who hardly ever comes to Young Group stuff? Yep, that one too.
Who am I to think, that because some peoples struggles are more visible than mine, I'm any better than they are in God's sight. Especially when I don't really know their heart.
I'm convicted.
7 comments:
Esteem ALL your brothers and sisters in Christ higher than yourself.
I've heard that before--that there's no qualifier on that. Interesting, isn't it? It makes me think of the removing the beam from my own eye...
Because I know I have faults. But I've also learned that some of my faults look a lot smaller to me than what they look to those who are around me. And only God knows how big they really are.
What does "esteem" really mean? In our actions--what does it mean to you to truly esteem another?
es·teem
v. es·teemed, es·teem·ing, es·teems
To regard with respect; prize. See Synonyms at appreciate.
To regard as; consider: esteemed it an honor to help them.
You kind'a missed my point.
It's all fine and dandy to say we need to esteem/respect/prize/etc each other. It's easy to say, too.
But in our daily life--what does it mean? What kind of actions do those words translate to? How do we show each other that we esteem them higher than ourselves?
That's kind of a rhetorical question. I doubt it can be answered in one sentence.
Although now that I think about it--there is one word would work.
But then you'd have to define that word, too...
People show esteem in different ways to different people. You're right, we could keep writing down words to describe words, but ultimately it's not about words; It's not even about actions; It's about the heart. Do you truly view that other person with respect? We could sit here and make a list of all the things we do to esteem our brother, but following that list to the T wouldn't necessarily be pleasing unto God if our heart wasn't right.
Great post Luke! Kind of falls in line with what we were talking about yesterday, doesn't it?
I'm convicted too.
Then again, God is always convicting my heart: always purifying me. Always revealing things to me about myself that I need to work on or change. God is good that way. ;)
amen, the heart (soul) is what counts in the long run (eternity). But works are obviously the reflector of the heart. But only to an extent, which is what was said I believe. We're all filthy sinners serving only by grace (if saved), I just wrote on that on my blog. A lot about what works are dependent upon...
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