{"id":23716,"date":"2018-08-20T03:30:22","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T10:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=23716"},"modified":"2018-08-16T09:18:19","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T16:18:19","slug":"august-20-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2018\/08\/20\/august-20-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"August 20, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-parallax-none nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-background-position:center top;--awb-background-repeat:repeat-y;--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-background-image:url(&quot;http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sept-2018-Devo-Template.jpg&quot;);--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_6 1_6 fusion-one-sixth fusion-column-first\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;width:16.666666666667%;width:calc(16.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.16666666666667 ) );margin-right: 4%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_3_4 3_4 fusion-three-fourth fusion-column-last\" style=\"--awb-padding-top:40px;--awb-padding-right:10px;--awb-padding-bottom:40px;--awb-padding-left:10px;--awb-bg-size:cover;width:75%;width:calc(75% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.75 ) );\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><em>\u201cWhy do you look at the speck in your brother\u2019s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Matthew 7: 3<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Oh, That Plank!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Mom and Dad have been in heaven many years now, but I still get teary when I think of them and what wonderful parents they were. I was blessed to have them, that\u2019s for sure, but talk about polar opposites: Mom found the good in every person or situation, while Dad, bless his heart, found the bad. Needless to say, I grew up perplexed and probably slow to learn God\u2019s ways, such as I saw in Mom, building others up verbally and in prayer.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m still in the process of learning that the longer we\u2019re around people, interacting with them, we most certainly will begin to see their faults and weak areas, those \u201cspecks\u201d of imperfection. We can form ugly opinions, or we can begin to pray seriously what\u2019s needed into that person\u2019s life. God definitely will help them heal and grow, as He helps <em>us<\/em>let go of that judgment and harsh, critical spirit.<\/p>\n<p>At times, it seems like a thin line between the valuable gift of discernment and outright criticism. But as we learn to discern situations and the spirit behind folks, God calls us to pray and love. It\u2019s definitely not our job to fix them or talk them down. I\u2019m so glad God doesn\u2019t do that with me!<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the biggest difference between discernment and judgment can be summed up in one word\u2014compassion. Our brothers and sisters in the Lord deserve that kindness as we see the areas that need growth. How <em>I<\/em>need that so desperately!<\/p>\n<p>Jesus was the epitome of compassion. When I feel my heart start to form a sharp-edged box around people or situations\u2014a \u201cplank\u201d\u2014I \u00a0know I\u2019ve stepped over into judgment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>\u201cLord Jesus, help us all to keep those mental \u201cedges\u201d we form around others soft, pliable and loving, just as You see all Your children. Thank You, Jesus.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-6aw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23717,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23716\/revisions\/23717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}