Temptation and sin give us a skewed view of the world, but if we listen to God, we can see things clearly.
2 Samuel 12:1-6
12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, ‘There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 ‘Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.’
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’
Have you ever done anything where you think you’ve done a great job and later been surprised to find out that others think differently? Maybe it was giving a speech, organising an event, painting your house, performing music, building a deck – or anything really! There are times that we smugly tell ourselves that we did the job much better than that other person – they did a pathetic job, really! – but that’s not an accurate view of reality.
We all view the world through the lens of our own experience. And sometimes our own self-interest and self-righteousness, our need to feel justified and have our own way, can make this a pretty strong filter. We can be quick to judge others while letting ourselves off the hook. Maybe we don’t even see our attitudes and behaviour for what they really are.
In the passage, the prophet Nathan exposes David’s hypocrisy just like this. Nathan’s story of the unjust rich man parallels the way that David has used his power to exploit Bathsheba, kill Uriah, and reject God. David’s sense of justice is quick to arc up in response to the story about sheep, yet he remains completely blind to his own sin until Nathan pulls back the curtain and shows him directly.
We can learn from this. Temptation, at its heart, invites us to view the world through self-interest rather than through the lens of God’s heart. When we sin, we buy into this and see only through our own eyes. In following Jesus, we are to be open to really listening to external perspectives on our thoughts and actions – setting aside judging others and looking at the plank in our own eye (Matt 7 vv 3-5), when our sister or brother gently points it out. Then we can see rightly and live more like Jesus. Then we can live with the humility to always say, “Lord, have mercy on me the sinner.”
Head: In what areas of life are you quick to judge others? Have you been prepared to consider that your perspective might be wrong?
Heart: Why do you think we are so quick to justify ourselves? Is it because we are trying to confirm or earn our own innocence, rather than trusting in Jesus to wash us clean?
Hands: Next time someone points out something you could have done better, be ready to listen openly without ‘biting back’. When you need to point out something that another has done wrong, commit to doing it gently but clearly.
Prayer: Father, I acknowledge that sometimes I want to justify myself and judge others. I am aware that I can be blind to others’ perspectives, and your perspective, on my attitudes and actions. Please help me to be open to hearing challenging things about my own life. Please help me not to judge others and to speak to them in a loving way when it needs to be done. Thank you that Jesus washed me clean. Amen.
A song to listen to: Grace awaiting me
Geoff Pryde
Living Church
Creek Road Campus
