We just got done with a series on the Song of Solomon that was absolutely fantastic- the vision put forth for marriage and romance and dating and sex and all that great stuff was like a breath of fresh air . . . . . for some people.
Other people thought it was very difficult to hear. Some people didn't like it at all. I sat down with a guy recently who quite frankly hated it.
He said, "Why would we listen to a guy who had 300 wives and 700 concubines talk about marriage? This guy was a womanizer and a philanderer! How can he be telling me how to do this whole marriage thing?"
I said, "The same way that we can listen to a guy who killed Christians and persecuted them, a guy named Paul, tell us about the beauty of grace in the Christian faith. The same way we can listen to a guy named Peter, who denied Jesus under threat of persecution, write about standing up under persecution in 1 and 2 Peter."
He said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I seriously don't think that Solomon should be teaching anybody about marriage. He was practically a sex addict."
Then the light bulb went on. "So, you're really struggling with a sex addiction, aren't you?"
He looked at me with a deer-in-the-headlights look. Then he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah."
I have found that whatever we criticize in other people is usually what we hate about ourselves. Whenever I hear a pastor boldly decrying homosexuality over and over and over again, I would bet on the fact that he is seriously struggling with that personally. Whenever I hear someone say, "No one is honest! Everyone around me just lies, lies, lies all the time," I know that person struggles with being honest. Whenever I hear someone constantly saying how judgmental everyone is, I know that person is a very judgmental person.
It's called projection. We as human beings project the things we don't like about ourselves onto other people. The guy I sat down with didn't like King Solomon because King Solomon's was doing the same things he was doing. I constantly see the Christians around me not giving 100% for Jesus because I myself struggle with that daily (and fail more often than succeed). I criticize materialism in people because I am constantly battling with my heart's desire for more things.
This is how you know what the Holy Spirit is convicting within you. When you see shortcomings in other people and they really, really bother you, you can be fairly sure that you are actually the one with the problem. I have noticed that it is the people that cause the most drama that say, "I hate all the drama!" the loudest. I have noticed that it whenever I call out sin in another person, it is usually the pot calling the kettle black.
Today, take a quiet moment and ask yourself what faults you see in the people around you. Reflect and ponder about whether that may actually be something wrong with YOU. Typically that is the case. Then, stop criticizing the person for what is wrong with you. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to overcome in your life the sin that you saw in everyone else.
Other people thought it was very difficult to hear. Some people didn't like it at all. I sat down with a guy recently who quite frankly hated it.
He said, "Why would we listen to a guy who had 300 wives and 700 concubines talk about marriage? This guy was a womanizer and a philanderer! How can he be telling me how to do this whole marriage thing?"
I said, "The same way that we can listen to a guy who killed Christians and persecuted them, a guy named Paul, tell us about the beauty of grace in the Christian faith. The same way we can listen to a guy named Peter, who denied Jesus under threat of persecution, write about standing up under persecution in 1 and 2 Peter."
He said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I seriously don't think that Solomon should be teaching anybody about marriage. He was practically a sex addict."
Then the light bulb went on. "So, you're really struggling with a sex addiction, aren't you?"
He looked at me with a deer-in-the-headlights look. Then he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah."
I have found that whatever we criticize in other people is usually what we hate about ourselves. Whenever I hear a pastor boldly decrying homosexuality over and over and over again, I would bet on the fact that he is seriously struggling with that personally. Whenever I hear someone say, "No one is honest! Everyone around me just lies, lies, lies all the time," I know that person struggles with being honest. Whenever I hear someone constantly saying how judgmental everyone is, I know that person is a very judgmental person.
It's called projection. We as human beings project the things we don't like about ourselves onto other people. The guy I sat down with didn't like King Solomon because King Solomon's was doing the same things he was doing. I constantly see the Christians around me not giving 100% for Jesus because I myself struggle with that daily (and fail more often than succeed). I criticize materialism in people because I am constantly battling with my heart's desire for more things.
This is how you know what the Holy Spirit is convicting within you. When you see shortcomings in other people and they really, really bother you, you can be fairly sure that you are actually the one with the problem. I have noticed that it is the people that cause the most drama that say, "I hate all the drama!" the loudest. I have noticed that it whenever I call out sin in another person, it is usually the pot calling the kettle black.
Today, take a quiet moment and ask yourself what faults you see in the people around you. Reflect and ponder about whether that may actually be something wrong with YOU. Typically that is the case. Then, stop criticizing the person for what is wrong with you. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to overcome in your life the sin that you saw in everyone else.
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