Thursday: The Mastery of Trying to Change Others First
WEEK 49
THURSDAY
THE MASTERY OF TRYING TO CHANGE OTHERS FIRST
1 Peter 4:17-19
We now pass on to another mastery—the mastery of trying to change the world and others first.
Note that I said the mastery of trying to change the world and others first, not the mastery of trying to change the world and others. We are to do that. That is a part of our Christian task, and it is inherent. The big and important question is: Where do we begin?
The disciples didn’t fall into the snare of beginning with others; they began with themselves. They didn’t start out trying to change the world; they began to change themselves. If they had begun by attempting to change the world, they would have been meddlers; but they began with themselves and became messengers.
The waiting for ten days to settle their own spiritual problems first was one of the wisest moves in history. Those ten days changed the people who were to change the world and made them witnesses instead of moralists. They told what had happened to them, and those who heard them wanted what they saw and heard.
Jesus emphasized this place of beginning when he said, “Why do you see the splinter that’s in your brother’s or sister’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye? . . . You deceive yourself! First take the log out of your eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s or sister’s eye” (Matt 7:3-5). Note “first take the log”; begin with yourself, and then you will see clearly to help your brother or sister with his or her problem.
There is nothing more pathetic than to see people with inner conflicts working for world peace. Or people who have no inner integration trying to integrate others; they are cases dealing with cases. I said to a group of social case workers, “Aren’t many of you cases dealing with cases, problems dealing with problems?” They burst out laughing, knowing it was so! And it was all very ineffective. A psychiatrist who is full of conflicts dealing with the conflicts of others is tragic. The disciples took hold of the right end of the stick, themselves!
O Jesus, your unerring finger has touched our deepest need, our need to start with ourselves. Then we talk and live with power, for we illustrate. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Everything shall begin with me. I change all in me in order to change all I come in contact with.