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Pointers along the way #7

Not my fault!
- Jacob Ninan

If someone were to ask you what your greatest problem is, you may say it has to do with money, job, sex, relationships, etc. Someone may even say that his biggest problem is Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so! But do you know something that can be a bigger problem than all of these, something that may even be behind all these other problems?

It is that it is extremely difficult to see our own faults. The Bible says that every man's ways are right in his own eyes (Pr.21:2). Even a murderer thinks that he was quite justified in killing his victim. Sometimes we can be so stubborn about it that even when someone tells us about some wrong we have done, we get angry with him rather than admit our fault. Our heart is really very deceptive (Jer.17:9).

Even after we become Christians, this blindness does not leave us immediately. Church history illustrates how Christians have persecuted one another for various reasons. When we think that we are standing up for Christ in some way, we may not realise how we ourselves are distorting the picture of Christ in some other way.

It is only in God's light that we can see things clearly (Ps.36:9). When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes we can see things we had no idea about before. Then we can see how wrong we were even where we were sure we were right. The Spirit can then start changing our lives according to His pattern.

Recognising that we could be mistaken about ourselves is a big step towards deliverance. Then we will ask God to open our eyes. We will begin to search God's word to learn more about God and how He looks at us. We will not be quick any more to reject what others tell about us.

Searching our own hearts is not what we need to do, because we can deceive ourselves. But we must let God search us and tell us what He sees in us (Ps.139:23). He will also encourage us and lift us up because He loves us and wants to give us His salvation.

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