Sunday Scripture

I have actually been doing some consistent Bible reading on a daily basis.

Imagine that.

Life slowing down enough to do such.

For me, that's the way I want it to be.

Anyway, I'm just reading one chapter a day. No more than two chapters at the most. That's not much. The only difference now is that I am reading purposefully - on purpose and with purpose- and not reading passively. They are indeed two different things.

A couple of weeks ago I read the book of Galatians over the span of the week. It was a very interesting read. I usually just highlight one or two verses, and I spend the day meditating on those and even reading a few versions of it. I may even write it down in a spiral notebook and write out my feelings concerning it and how it will help me in prayer.

Usually I will just leave that in my little notebook. But last weekend, I had a lovely phone conversation with blogger BayouCreole Chick, and we had a talk about this piece of scripture, and she encouraged me to write about it. So I thought I would do that.

Galatians 6:4. (Different versions- the portion of interest to me is highlighted in green)

Amplified

³ For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another’s load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself.

⁴ But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [^[c]in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor.

⁵ For every person will have to bear (^[d]be equal to understanding and calmly receive) his own [^[e]little] load ^[f][of oppressive faults].

CEV

³ If you think you are better than others, when you really aren’t, you are wrong. ⁴ Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don’t compare yourself with others. ⁵ We each must carry our own load.

Phillips

^3-4 If a man thinks he is “somebody”, he is deceiving himself, for that very thought proves that he is nobody. Let every man learn to assess properly the value of his own work and he can then be glad when he has done something worth doing without dependence on the approval of others.
⁵ For every man must “shoulder his own pack”.

Message

^4-5Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

Yeah, that's a lot to read. But I like looking a verse that grabs my attention from as many different angles as possible. That way I get the full meaning. 

And I'll just let you go back and read the chapter in full context. Essentially, there was some jankiness going on. (Like in every epistle, and every book of the bible. I'm not sure why ya'll get so bent out of shape when Christian folk do dumb stupid ratchet stuff. But that is another blog post).  Peter, the good apostle Peter, who we all love, had some prejudice and racial problems, and Paul called him out on that. AND there are a couple of chapters in there shooting down religiosity (which I myself don't like... you know I don't care for religion), and uplifting and making a good case for grace.

That's what went down in a nutshell. Very interesting. Lots of higher level church folk ratchetness. Sigh. 

With that said... I am interested in that portion of verse laid out above. 

It speaks of carefully examining yourself. 

I told my sister about it. I hung out at her place today, and lo and behold, she had a greeting card with the verse of scripture on it.

(Sorry, couldn't get that to rotate).

Ain't that a hoot? I was rambling to my sister about that verse. I didn't know she was actually listening. She seems to listen closely to me, because she went and found that card.  lol

Anyway, that verse is interesting.  It speaks of the critical importance of self examination. One must really be consistent of carefully scrutinizing, examining, and test their own conduct. It talks about learning to properly assess yourself and your work.

That message version is O_o... 

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.

My goodness. That verse is just loaded like a gun.

And it links back to something I see now with a lot of people. And when I see it in myself I catch myself...

We have a tendency to look at our lives through rose colored glasses, and examine the lives of others with a magnifying glass.

According to the verse of scripture of interest, it should be the other way around... we should be examining our lives under a magnifying glass.

It suffices to say that if I was SERIOUS about that, then...

1. I won't go so low as boastfully comparing myself to others.
2. I won't be depending on the approval of others to feel good about myself.

It will probably cut out a whole slew of other ratchetness. Who knows.

In a nutshell, if I be mindful of my own self and business, I won't go around judging others. Because that is what this "comparison" thing is all about. I am examining YOU and comparing myself to you... then I can make some funky judgement.

Sigh. I think that is what me and that BayouCreole chick were talking about. I think I wanted to watch the Olympics without the constant criticism of stupid stuff, like people's appearances, etc... I just wanted to be able to enjoy the games without the pettiness of it all. And it made me think about my ownself and just doing a check on my own judgment issues. I can't say I am heavily on that side of the bandwagon. It is just that I am so O_O that we are the experts on everybody else's life and what they should or should be doing... when our own lives are in continuously in need of work.

I know I'm not perfect. I have things I am always working on. I read that verse 6 amplified above, about how everyone has to deal with their own load of "oppressive faults." To me that means my idiosyncrasies and other issues, well, I need to be mindful that they are there, and it is up to me to deal with them. (Believe me, I get heavily judged on mine. WOW)

One issue gets under control, and here comes another personal issue right on its heels. And then I have to buckle down and work on that. I am sure there will be strongholds and issues that I have that I will be working on for the rest of my life. But it's a good thing. On the path to working out my issues, I get stronger, meet people along the way who are helpful, and I develop in compassion towards those who have similar problems. I may be even helpful to them in some way.

That's a lot better than the whole judgement thing.

And that whole self esteem thing of depending on the approval of others.

Let's face it: It is much much easier to judge others than it is to judge our ownselves. Much easier and much less painful indeed.

So that is my Sunday scripture.  It is a loaded scripture. It is one I will continue to chew on.

One I have wrote down and pondered over the past week or so.

One that I am glad I came across. That piece of scripture works for many facets of life, from the workplace to deep personal issues.

It is definitely one I should remember.