{"id":35702,"date":"2023-08-31T03:30:55","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T10:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=35702"},"modified":"2023-08-26T11:35:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T18:35:16","slug":"august-31-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2023\/08\/31\/august-31-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"August 31, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Know Your Own Heart<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cTherefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.\u201d <\/em>Philippians 3:15<\/p>\n

My friend was telling me about a woman she\u2019d known for a long time, who was angry at her in-laws for not giving her a chance to be a part of their family. She complained to my friend, \u201cThey\u2019re so mean to me. They don\u2019t even make an effort to know the real me! I\u2019m shut out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then my friend changed the subject. She told me how she was petting her dog recently, and the dog zealously climbed up in her lap and nipped her on the arm because the dog wanted to play and had gotten rather rambunctious. Her skin wasn\u2019t broken, but she did get a small welt on her arm.<\/p>\n

When she was done telling me these two stories, I saw a real connection between them. This is exactly how people are with other people sometimes. They are just living their lives as they always do, but without meaning to, they are hurting others with their words or actions. They don\u2019t mean to be hurtful\u2014they often don\u2019t know they are hurtful. Many times in my own life I\u2019ve been called out for saying \u201cthe wrong thing\u201d and causing more pain.<\/p>\n

We often don\u2019t know our own heart. The last couple of books I\u2019ve read, along with our HER Ministry Bible Study, have exhorted me to \u201cstop and think about it.\u201d As I\u2019ve considered my own ways, I realize I have harbored unfair (and often untrue) biases and prejudices against certain people groups, politicians, cultures, clothing styles, and other identities, that have no basis in God\u2019s heart. These are ways of thinking that come from childhood and life experiences but not from God\u2019s Word. These things become imbedded in our personalities until we no longer know they are there. It\u2019s like that picture hanging on the wall that we\u2019ve passed by so often, we forget it is there.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, God sees not only actions, but attitudes. A day comes along when we plainly see what we\u2019ve missed for so long. He reveals what was hidden. He makes clear what was foggy. We see ourselves for what we are\u2014which is what He has seen all along.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good thing, though. We\u2019d hate to be left in our sin. It would be awful to stay as we have been, to be the product only of our own experiences. We need the Spirit of God to change us, to remake us in His image, to give us the mind of Christ.<\/p>\n

Father, we pray for You to mature us. Teach us to put a watch on our lips so that we do not speak a word \u201cout of season.\u201d Reveal to us our attitudes towards others, especially those long-held attitudes we aren\u2019t aware of. And teach us to love with Your love. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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