We All Have Junk
Good Morning,One of the things that keeps us from experiencing deep and meaningful relationships with others is the false assumption that other people don’t have life junk; or at least as much life junk as we do. So, we become hesitant to open ourselves up in fear of being exposed as less than perfect.In Matthew chapter 7 verses 3-5 we read these familiar words:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
I’d like to reflect a bit differently on this passage than what we normally do. What struck me when I read this passage recently was not that some people have specs and some have logs, but the fact that we all have one or the other. We all have stuff, that if not for the cross, would leave permanent blemishes on the pages of our lives. But thanks to the redeeming love of Jesus we can live unencumbered by self-condemnation.What if we made the fact that we all have junk the starting point for our relationships? We would experience so much more freedom and fulfillment in our interactions with people. Instead of trying to be someone we aren’t, or instead of trying to hide our imperfections why not embrace life with all its speed bumps, and journey in transparency with others? The result would be a level of unity and authentic community too infrequently experienced.Life is too short to live behind a facade. Not only is it too short, it is too hard to live that way. The fact is, no one thinks you are perfect anymore that you think others are perfect. Let’s face it, we all have junk. There, now that’s settled!
The only normal people you know are the ones you don’t know very well. - - Annoy.
Live this week on purpose,
