September 21 I Tuesday

Ecclesiastes 7-9

2 Corinthians 13

“But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.”  —Psalm 19:12

There are some men, when they walk past a mirror, who would stand in front of it, look at themselves, puff up their chest, suck in their stomach and maybe flex a muscle as they comment to themselves, “I may not be as young as I used to be, but I look pretty good.” Then their wife walks into the room and points out their hidden faults.

      In the opening verse of this devotion, David poses a sobering question, “Who can discern their own errors?” If we are honest with ourselves, we are self-deceivers. We have an inflated sense of our own righteousness and tend to devalue others in our own eyes. Jesus warns us, “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?” (Matthew 7:3). We love to remove the speck of sawdust from other peoples’ eyes, forgetting that there is a plank in our own eye. We can get to this place where we deceive ourselves with blind spots that we are not aware of. To help end this, we need others to point out our hidden faults.

      Christianity is not an individual growth journey. The community of believers need one another to assist each other in the pursuit of holiness. The Scriptures are written to a community; they have a communal tone and posture to them. Oftentimes, when we read the word “you” in Scripture, it is actually in the plural form. As the body of Christ, we are meant to be in fellowship with one another. Close-knit relationships have a powerful way of helping us grow, because they expose our hidden faults. In the context of love, it helps us get up and keep moving.

      One of the highlights of my week is connecting with a brother. We devour the Word together, feed each other, challenge one another, pray together and discern our hidden faults. As an executive team at The Peoples Church (Toronto, Canada), we meet each week with a time of prayer or studying the Word. I am constantly amazed at how God meets and speaks to some of the agenda items that we are working through when we do this.

      If we do not have someone whom we connect with regularly to study the Scripture and pray, ask God to raise up a training partner for us, so that we can train in godliness—this is a prayer that God delights in answering. Although this pandemic may have us isolated, we are actually meant to be in community, because we learn and grow with one another.

Prayer: Lord God, thank You for the Christian community. Please reveal to me whom I could study the Scripture and pray with regularly. In Jesus’s name, amen!