Plow
Creek Mennonite Church
Sunday
Meditations
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
Speaking the truth in love
Louise Stahnke
October 1, 2006
Our focus for worship and teachings this month is shifting from our first membership commitment, Jesus is our Lord, to the second commitment that we seek to speak the truth in love in our relationships among us. I’ve been thinking about the nature of truth quite a bit lately. In the gospel of John, chapter 14, Jesus boldly proclaims that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus is Truth. He is the Son of God, and in God there is no deceit or confusion at all. He is simply not capable of it.
However, our ability to perceive the truth in a situation, especially one we are involved in, is limited. The darkness of our own lives, areas of wounds and sins, clouds our ability to see clearly. In Matthew 7: 1-5, our Lord tells us: “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others. Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? How dare you say to your brother, “please, let me take that speck out of your eye” when you have a log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
As we have experienced growth and healing in an area of our lives, we are then given the gift of being able to speak clearly to others in issues around that same area. If we’re honest with ourselves, we might even admit we don’t really have much to offer another with struggles in a similar area of life until we have been touched by God’s truth there ourselves.
We need to practice a real humility as we relate to each other. And it is from a place of deep humility that we are called to come before God to share in Holy Communion. He has invited us to share in His Life — its brokenness and its Resurrection. Through sharing in this act, we are invited further into His life of Truth.
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
Speaking the truth in love
Louise Stahnke
October 1, 2006
Our focus for worship and teachings this month is shifting from our first membership commitment, Jesus is our Lord, to the second commitment that we seek to speak the truth in love in our relationships among us. I’ve been thinking about the nature of truth quite a bit lately. In the gospel of John, chapter 14, Jesus boldly proclaims that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus is Truth. He is the Son of God, and in God there is no deceit or confusion at all. He is simply not capable of it.
However, our ability to perceive the truth in a situation, especially one we are involved in, is limited. The darkness of our own lives, areas of wounds and sins, clouds our ability to see clearly. In Matthew 7: 1-5, our Lord tells us: “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others. Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? How dare you say to your brother, “please, let me take that speck out of your eye” when you have a log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
As we have experienced growth and healing in an area of our lives, we are then given the gift of being able to speak clearly to others in issues around that same area. If we’re honest with ourselves, we might even admit we don’t really have much to offer another with struggles in a similar area of life until we have been touched by God’s truth there ourselves.
We need to practice a real humility as we relate to each other. And it is from a place of deep humility that we are called to come before God to share in Holy Communion. He has invited us to share in His Life — its brokenness and its Resurrection. Through sharing in this act, we are invited further into His life of Truth.