Matthew 7:1-14.
Jesus warns us that the way we judge others will be the way we are judged.
He tells us to stop being hypocritical, finding tiny sins in others but failing to notice our own big sins.
He says to ask, seek and knock for we will receive because God gives good gifts.
He concludes by saying that the Law and Prophets are summed up in doing to others what we’d like done to ourselves.
As a child, I learned not to ask for what I wasn’t going to get.
“Don’t wish for the moon,” I would be told if the object of my desire was beyond my parents’ meager resources.
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I learned to use peer pressure to get my parents to give me what I wanted if it wasn’t too expensive. “All the other kids have one,” I would whine.
When my mother got a job, my demands naturally increased because there was more money to spend.
What I really wanted, though, was for my parents to stop arguing.
Neither of them were ever satisfied with each other.
At least once a week, they would argue long into the night, both of them wanting to be right about something.
“Please, God, make them stop arguing,” I would pray over and over.
They stopped when they got a divorce.
Receiving small things like a toy or the latest fashion shoes seemed normal to me.
I took my asking and receiving for granted.
When I really, deeply wanted something like my parents’ happiness, however, I didn’t get it. I did get the end of their arguing but at a huge price: my broken family.
I think I stopped asking for serious things soon after that.
I mostly drifted with unclear desires and wants.
Instead of saying, “I want an apple”, I’d say, “I’m hungry.” One is specific, the other general.
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Asking is specific. Seeking is specific. Knocking needs a door.
I avoided those. I drifted into adultery, children, marriage, a job.
It took the loss of everything for me to begin thinking specifically.
What did I want, really? What was I truly looking for? Whose door should I pound on? The answer to all three questions was God.
#65279; But it was Pastor Kim and Wooridle Church that narrowed the questions.
By focusing me on finding my sins and repenting, I began to receive the love, joy and peace that only God can give.
O Lord, let me seek to see myself in your eyes daily, repent sincerely and receive your love.
