Self Sabotage (Mt 7:1-6)

Today's reading is Matthew 7 and Luke 6.

This paragraph shows you how to hurt yourself by destroying relationships. Just what you wanted to know, right?

1. You hurt yourself when you have a judgmental attitude. That judgmental attitude forms the basis for a negative example of the Golden Rule (Mt 7:12). When you're judgmental, you're telling others, "It's okay for you to treat me this way."
2. You hurt yourself when you blow out of proportion other people's sins and shortcomings. Today, you would say you're "making a mountain out of a mole hill." May God's love help you cover a multitude of sins. God, help us to look beyond things.
3. You hurt yourself when you don't take seriously your own sins and shortcomings. How easy it is to condemn in others what you excuse in yourself. You can be a master at self-deception, just as I can. Remember what Jeremiah says about the heart (Jer 17:9). You can spin anything to make yourself look better. This is the Jacob nature (To understand Jacob's propensity for self-advantage, read his story in Genesis chapters 25-33, 35, 45-46, 48-49.).
4. You hurt yourself when you continue to help people who, by their words and actions, have made it clear they will not change. The "dogs" will bite and growl. The "pigs" will charge you, but only after they've taken another mud bath. (Caution: Be careful about prematurely labeling someone "pig" or "dog.")