Monday, September 22, 2014

A Rational View of Ourselves

Often it is easy in life to judge ourselves by an easier standard than we judge others by.  I did this or that because I was tired.  Or I acted poorly for this or that reason.

But when someone else acts poorly we never allow for mitigating circumstances.  It is often that we judge ourselves by an easier standard than others.  We always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt.

The bible tells us that we will be judged by the standard with which we judge.  We should always strive to judge others more gently than we judge ourselves.  Because our sinful hearts will often cause us to undervalue our fault in things.

It is always easy for us to see why we are at less fault than others think and very hard for us to imagine why others may be at less fault than we think.  Our nature is quick to defend ourselves.  It is what makes progress in the Christian life so hard.

You see we cannot do better if we refuse to see how we are wrong.  If how we are wrong is always a lack of sleep or not a good breakfast or a bad day at work than we will never grow.  You see if we sleep more, have a good breakfast, and a good day at work then it will become a bad commute or an unexpected bill.

There is always something to blame other than ourselves!  It takes great humility to simply accept that when we fail there is something beyond the mitigating factors which causes our failure.  Yes the poor sleep or bad traffic did not help but they are only part of the explanation and the least helpful part.

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