Good morning…
I chuckled when I saw this cartoon at the bottom of last week’s email from my friend Emily Wingfield. I chuckled, and I felt convicted.
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This cartoon parks in the lane of our shared hardened handicap, the handicap of our old human nature. We look around us and we want change, but we look inside ourselves to see, “To really make change, my big ‘I’ must die.” We enthusiastically raise our hand, “Yes, yes, I want our world to change!” But, when it actually comes time for us to personally make a hard change, we hide our hand and we drop eyes. (Think losing weight, drinking less, think loving the lonely. In various ways, shapes, and forms think me investing my time, my heart, my resources with God, so God can expand to meet the needs of others, rather than me hoarding God’s riches for myself). We all struggle to play well our personal part in the puzzle of poverty, addiction, and holistic healing, because we want change, but we, ourselves, do not want to change our comfortable lifestyle.
I see that my heart is my problem. Is your heart the same? Selfish. Controlling. Pushing me first. God softens our hardened handicap with these convicting words. “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults — unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor” (Matthew 7:1-5, NIV).
All of humanity has the same core hardened handicap, as one of Betsy’s Bullets reminds: “Sometimes blame is just an excuse to keep busy so I don’t have to feel the discomfort of my own powerlessness.” Our deepest truth is all the same, we are powerless to make change in the world until we each surrender ourselves to Almighty power, allowing God to make change in us, inside out.
Let’s not park passively in our hardened handicapped spot, But encourage each other every day, while you still have something called “today.” Help each other so that none of you will be fooled by sin and become too hard to change (Hebrews 3:13, ERV).
In what ways does this crazy-making cartoon sing your song today?
…Sue…
