Poignant statement “Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise”
Subject: MAY BE YOU NEED TO CLEAN YOUR WINDOW
Scripture: Mathew 7:1-5
One day a young couple moved in a neighborhood. Early morning when they were having breakfast, the young woman looks out of the window and says to her husband. “Look, the laundry of our neighbor is not very clean. May be she needs a better soap or someone to teach her how to wash clothes? This kept happening many days during the breakfast time. One day as usual the young woman looked out of the window and exclaimed to her husband. She says “Look, finally she has learned to wash her clothes very clean because they are all clean.” The husband gently told her, “Dear, this morning I got up early in the morning before you got up and washed the windows” All these days she had been watching out the dirty window and hence she saw only dirty laundry.
And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look. Before we give any criticism, it might be a good idea to check our state of mind and ask ourselves if we are ready to see the good rather than to be looking for something in the person we are about to judge.
At times when I have expressed negative feelings or words and later ponder on what I said, I feel horrible because what I said was not entirely the truth. I have had to eat my own words. At times the incident bothered me for days. This sadly is the experience of most of us in life. What we say or act causes a lot of hurt because we are so callous about the feeling of other people. We so easily can hurt other people.
Each day we are given opportunity to look out of our own window to the world and if windows of our hearts are not clean then there is a great danger of misjudging the whole scenario. How do I keep my window clean and how do I stop hurting others and embarrassing myself or even sinning against my brother? How can I learn to be clean in my own life?
One of the best ways to have clean window is to seek the help of God to clean us each day and early morning time of devotion is an ideal time. When we come to the presence of God we need to come to him in absolute transparency. Everyday we need to pray the prayer of David “Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me” Psalm 51:10
Our attitude and action need to be guided by the Word of God. From the time we have believed we have decided that we will follow the teaching of the Word of God. I know we all fail but we need to keep coming to the Word so that we are cleansed by the Word of God. The Psalmist says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” Psalm 119:11
We need to develop positive outlook in life at all time. Saint Paul says in the book of the Philippians 2:5 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” and then talks about the humility of the Lord Jesus. I know that many times I judge people cruelly because I am not humble. We need to consistently emulate the example of Jesus and when we fail, and definitely we will, we need to come to God for cleansing of our heart.
We are heavily influenced by the company we keep as we live in this world. We should not run away from the world and build a cocoon of our faith and hide but then we must not follow the pattern of the world either. It is hard but quite possible to live in the world but not be of the world. We have to impact the world and not the other way round. At times even though we are believers our hearts are ruled by the ways of the world and the result is negative way of looking at other people.
When we make unkind remark, when we humiliate someone or gossip; we hurt the person more than any physical hurt and at times the hurt will never heal or take a long time to heal. So let us be kind and not cruel, understanding and not sensitive, loving and not hateful.
Each day we are given opportunity to face the world and make some kind of remark or judgment. What is going to be your attitude will really exhibit the kind of person you are. Each day as you walk out of your home say to yourself. ‘Today I am going to honor the Lord and love those who come in contact with me. I will by the grace of God show with my words and attitude that I am a child of God’
I have been very snappish with people and I have couched my weakness as being transparent and honest but the other person does not see it like that and gets hurt. I should really be honest but have a liberal dose of gentleness, love and prayer. I still make quick and unkind judgment but I am learning to be careful. The example of Jesus dealing with people is classic one because he never ever compromised the truth of God yet He was always compassionate.
I believe non of us will ever have the window of our heart absolutely clean all the time but even if it is cleaner than my neighbor’s heart then too we need to be careful because we are also weak. We are not to judge or condemn but if we find our fellow believers have problems in their lives then it is important that we deal with them gently.
Let me give a bit of advice to those who serve the Lord and are mature in faith. Please never cease to tell the truth and not compromise but first ask yourself if the window of your heart is clean. Is it clean with the love and understanding of God? Only when you are clean then you can see what the reality is and then find ways to deal with the situation. So, we all need washing and let us get on with it. Let the Lord wash you and make you clean. Always look out from a clean window and see the difference!
Poignant statement “Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise”
Prayer: I repent of every word or action which was unkind because my heart was unclean. Lord, help me to clean the window of my own heart and then look out. May my heart always bless others.
Republished in new layout on 8/20/2013
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