Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

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LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 27, 1955
THE FIELD S THE WORLD,
TH 5/r&0 (S THE WORD OP GOD
VOLUME LIV WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1955 NUMBER 6
The Biggest Hindrance to Spiritual Vision
In Matthew 7:5 we read, "Then thou shalt see
The church today, as in every age,
needs
men and women of spiritual vision men and women
who see God's will, work, and way, and then go into
action. A clear vision is needed to help others.
The biggest hindrance to spiritual vision is
found in Matthew 7:1-5, and it is censoriousness.
We criticize others when there are imperfections in
our own lives, and the imperfection mentioned here
is the spirit of judging others. Fault finding and
"picking others is not a Christian way to act.
No man will ever be perfect in the eyes of his fellow
men, but God looks on the heart. God is the judge,
not we.
Just what is involved in this censorious atti
tude Those who have this attitude go around con
stantly condemning others. No one is just quite as
good as they are ; no one can please them.
The defeating blow that is often wielded is that
of criticism when a person has done his best. Our
task on earth is to serve God and help people to
heaven. If we do this our task is difficult enough
without trying to run the lives of others. We are to
look for the merits in everyone. This does not mean
that we do not recognize the difference between the
Christian and the non-Christian ; it does mean, how
ever, that we treat the unsaved as Jesus would.
There are some good traits in the unsaved, even
though they will not save them. When dealing with
such a person start with these good traits and
commend him for these, but show him also that
the greatest sin is the rejection of the Saviour,
Jesus Christ. A censorious attitude is a dangerous
thing. It will cause your spiritual vision to be dim
med and will never help a soul to God.
There is a grave personal danger in having a
censorious attitude. If we judge others, others will
judge us. Others will be harder on us than we are on
them because they know that censoriousness is a
part of our very disposition. This unwholesome spirit
will rob us of soul joy. It displeases God, makes
enemies, and keeps us from seeing God clearly.
Some people are always seeing the faults in
others but never in themselves. Others need help.
The unsaved need to be saved, the discouraged en
couraged, and the sorrowing comforted ; but we shall
never be able to help if the "beam" of censoriousness
is in our own eyes. When the personal "beam" is cast
out of the eye "then shalt thou see clearly to cast
eye."
out the mote out of thy brother's
The reason then that some of us are not able to
help others is because we lack spiritual vision. A
lack of spiritual vision is caused by having a censori
ous spirit. Therefore the thing to do is to let God
completely cleanse our souls of all that is unlike Him
by the purging presence of the Holy Spirit. H.E.S.
in United Brethren