Reflection Friday

How are you? The truthful answer now, how are you?

How has the week been for you? How’s your heart? What testimony have you received and what are you most grateful for? Don’t just read; it’s important that you answer . It’s important that you do all the exercises here; we want to grow don’t we? Let’s look into the mirror 🪞.

I’ve come to realise that man is ignorant to his own faults but actively participates in other people’s business. Jesus addresses this in the gospels by saying “

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭42‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus is saying , your first mission is to address you. Self introspection is not something you do after you’ve corrected others NO! You start by checking yourself out first! Unless we have done so, we have no right to be correcting others – not even unbelievers. “They’re prostitutes” while we’re still dealing with “masturbation” in the church of God! No! Jesus wants us to see that our first job is to deal with our own problems, sins, weaknesses, mistakes, inconsistencies, wrong motives. Many people can’t confront themselves but they have paragraphs upon paragraph confronting others. Jesus says we cannot do that. So here we are again, before the mirror . To see ourselves for who we truly are.

I was reading a scripture and it really confronted my heart. I realised , there’s someone I am actually still mad at. I’m like ohh the word of God will really have you on the surgery table. Now, I can’t go and teach about grudges when l myself have to deal with that. I’ve dealt with it though; spoke to the person. Jesus is not saying never preach about it , He says, first deal with your own heart condition. Ever met ladies who will say “oh your make up is not sitting well” but you look at them and their brows can pass as door handles? LOL (let me be serious). Okay okay back to the issue – self introspection. What are we doing about the bitterness?

Your growth is not in putting down others, it is in looking at your reflection. A fault is a fault, whoever it belongs to, and we should judge ourselves and others by the same rule. We are to fix our thoughts on it; careful consideration; meditate; deliberate on these things. So no, nothing justifies yelling. Nothing justifies wrong behaviour. Nothing justifies treating people like nothing even if in your past you were treated likewise. I know this is a bit harsh but even your past trauma doesn’t justify you traumatising others. If a man broke your heart; that doesn’t justify you breaking other people’s hearts. You need healing first so that you can have a healthy perspective on relationships. We are called to be godly not godly with a side salad of the world. It’s a journey but we will definitely win if we don’t shrink back. It’s all up to us – you and l.

3 ways to self reflect

• Through the lenses of scripture . Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal you to you. And when He does, don’t argue with Him.
• Journaling . As you meditate, write down what you need to work on and add a date to it then come back to it after sometime to note down progress or victory.
• Ask your friends. “Tell me about what you think of me”. Now this is something you want to do with friends whose hearts you trust to be loving towards you. People whose answers will edify. They should tell you the truth and you should be able to take the truth no matter how hard or angering it is. Remember even God corrects those He loves. There is love in correction.
  

Many people keep failing the self introspection test because they hate “truth”. Truth threatens their peace and they have been running from it since they knew what it was. The truth sets you free. We remain caged if we can’t swallow truth. If your friends point out a trait in you that is bad don’t say “who are you to tell me this and that. I’m cutting you off. You too are like this and that,” it’s not a competition of who’s better. It’s surgery. Humility is needed when we go through this journey.

And remember this includes honesty about how you feel, your anger management journey, the healing process, everything. Don’t microwave healing . Don’t microwave success. Take it as it comes and finally, you become like a butterfly. Beautiful, free, admirable!

It’s time to consider our ways . Truth be told , are you who the world thinks you are or are you the person the mirror is showing? Let’s get to work!

My darling, until we actually become intentional about self introspection we may never rise to our full potential .. in the end , you will be the one suffering from the results of being too casual about this.

I love you! Have a beautiful weekend! Remember, Abba is on your side! ❤️