A Lesson From Jesus...For me

[Timl1980]

I was recently involved in a situation that caused me a lot of embarrassment...all because I allowed myself to make a snap judgement about a sister.

 

All my rhetoric...all my "brilliant" spiritual points...still did not stop me from making this serious mistake...and that is why I am sitting down...to pen yet another lesson from a very spiritual brother who thought enough of me to tell me where I was going wrong...where I was messing up. 

 

It all began when a brother and his wife called me, and we conversed for over a half hour about various topics. The conversation was uplifting and quick tempo...our focus moved from topic to topic with the speed and agility of a rabbit dodging from bush to bush...and it was encouraging...upbuilding...until a certain sister's name was brought up...and suddenly the tone shifted...suddenly our voices took on a slightly mocking tone...even though we didn't realize it... (at the time).

 

The sister in question has so many issues...she has had issues in every congregation she has ever been in...and the story is the same in every single one...she doesn't realize that SHE is the problem...that if SHE would just change...if SHE would just understand how SHE affects others...

 

I'm too embarrassed to go on...even now I can feel each of you silently judging me...saying how clearly wrong I am...and you are right...I feel horrible...useless.

 

A very kind, very loving elder talked to all three of us after I related this conversation...and I simply cannot stress how deeply this has affected me...even now I am holding back tears as I think about how foolish and limited my "sight" was in this matter...and it has now affected me in how I see every brother and sister...and hopefully it can affect each of you in the same way.

 

This elder asked me to look at an example of how Jesus treated people by joining him in turning to the gospel of Mark and look at Chapter 5 of this beautifully written book of the Bible.

 

He asked me to please read verses 1-9...and I will quote them here: "Then they came to the other side of the sea into the region of the Gerʹa·senes.2 And immediately after Jesus got out of the boat, a man under the power of an unclean spirit met him from among the tombs.3 His haunt was among the tombs, and up to that time, absolutely no one was able to bind him securely, even with a chain.4 He had often been bound with fetters and chains, but he snapped the chains apart and smashed the fetters; and nobody had the strength to subdue him. And continually, night and day, he was crying out in the tombs and in the mountains and slashing himself with stones.6 But on catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down to him.7 Then he cried out with a loud voice: “What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I put you under oath by God not to torment me.”8 For Jesus had been saying to it: “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.”9 But Jesus asked him: “What is your name?” And he replied: “My name is Legion, because there are many of us.”10 And he kept pleading with Jesus not to send the spirits out of the country.

 

He asked me to put myself in the shoes of the people who would have interacted with this man...how would they have felt about him??

 

Surely, they would have said he was crazy...absolutely NUTS! A man crying out and slashing himself with stones...a man possessed by demons!!!

 

Who would have dared to approach him? Very few...most would have simply avoided him...taking the "long" route around where he was known to be...simply to avoid any and all contact with such an obviously crazy person. 

 

And honestly...who could have blamed them??

 

The man was possessed...not just by one demon...but by MANY demons. What sane person WOULDN'T have stayed as far away as possible?

 

Jesus...that's who.

 

Friends...this dear dear elder pointed out something absolutely astonishing to me...Jesus didn't see this person...this sheep...as a person CAUSING trouble...no friends...he saw him as he TRULY WAS...a sheep IN trouble.

 

Then this brother said something that caused me break down...I was both astonished...and ashamed.

 

He asked me to read about what happened AFTER Jesus unburdened this precious man from the terrible things that were afflicting him so badly...he asked me to see him...the same way that Jehovah and his Son already saw him.

 

Please join me in reading verses 18-20: "Now as he was boarding the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed pleaded to go with him.19 However, he did not let him but said to him: “Go home to your relatives, and report to them all the things Jehovah has done for you and the mercy he has shown you.”20 This man went away and started to proclaim in the De·capʹo·lis all the things Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed."

 

Friends...I was absolutely devastated...I was feeling so worthless and pathetic at that moment...I broke down in tears.

 

A demon possessed man...and Jesus recognized that he was actually a SHEEP...not just a sheep though...a sheep in distress. Jesus saw this man for who he truly was...not for who he was CURRENTLY!!

 

Friends...I was so saddened...so sickened by my own behavior...I simply sat and cried for nearly ten minutes straight.

 

And now I am appealing to each of you...please do not see what your brothers and sisters are currently...see them how Jehovah sees them...as they will be once they are fixed...once Jehovah has the chance to take away all the impurities and faults from all of us.

 

I'm not implying that we're all crazy... (even though a good number of us may be at this point😂) I'm simply saying that we are not currently who we are GOING to be in the new system...so please cut each other some slack...and just understand how Jehovah and Jesus see us...versus how we often view each other.

 

I love all of you...and look forward to getting to know each and every one of you in the new system...when we have all the time in the world to see us as we truly ARE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19 by Timl1980

[redvet]

This was simply beautiful and such a wonderful lesson to all of us, it teaches me not to judge anyone especially our brothers and sisters and to watch what I say, when I say it and how I say it and to know that Jehovah is always watching us.

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[Timl1980]

6 minutes ago, redvet said:

This was simply beautiful and such a wonderful lesson to all of us, it teaches me not to judge anyone especially our brothers and sisters and to watch what I say, when I say it and how I say it and to know that Jehovah is always watching us.

 

Yes!! That is exactly what I was trying to say...well put!

 

It shows me how Jehovah sees beyond ANYTHING we may be facing...and understands who we TRULY are. What a lesson for me...a truly humbling experience!