I see things I don't like in other people, and I build a case as to why I am justified in not liking them, why they are not the saints they pretend to be, and why I am, in fact, better than they. It is as though the two of us are standing before the judge, and I must prove my case against my sister, prove why I should be acquitted and she found guilty.
Oswald suggests that God allows us to see failings in other people -- actually reveals their faults to us -- so that we might intercede on their behalf. It's not that I am some sort of Hercule Poirot wannabe, ferreting out the weak spots in the pool of suspects around me. The pool of suspects surrounding me is the Body of Christ, and the weak spots are revealed to me by a loving Father so that I might pray. "He reveals things in order that we may take the burden of these souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them . . ."
It is as though the two of us stand before a judge. The judge looks with loving compassion upon my sister. As I converse with him, he creates in me a like mind and, at the same time in some mysterious way, gives my sister life.
I have received so much from Oswald the last 2 days. I have noticed in the last few weeks how full my heart is of criticism; especially when I am at church! I can feel God working in me and I am moved to become an intercessor on behalf of those I am critical of.
ReplyDeleteWow, It has never occurred to me to pray for instead of judge when weakness or sin in others is so plain to me. I am a little ashamed to say this, because really, at this point in my life it should be obvious.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you Dawn...just never even entered my mind. Kind o' sad...
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