Junior Holy Spirits

Meditation
Romans 14:10-12--But you, why do you criticize your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the tribunal of God. For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

 So what’s wrong with trying to help someone else when their conduct or circumstances are questionable?  Or they don’t know how to act?  Or they seem clueless about key issues?  Well for starters, we ought to think about our: 

• Motives—perhaps I challenge what I perceive to be selfishness in the way you handle money when really what I would like is for you to be generous to me.  
• Methods—Jesus never shared the gospel the same way twice.  Some people want to take the Four Spiritual Laws or “hottest” tract and train everyone to use them correctly so people will “get saved”.  This causes Christians to focus on the tool instead of the Holy Spirit.  He may not want us turning pages but rather praying for discernment as to what is preventing a person from finding salvation.  Our training can actually be counterproductive to spiritual growth!  
• Presumption—We don’t like what we see in someone else’s life so we jump in and push our solutions.  The Bible teaches that God tests us and often allows us to suffer in order to build our character or teach us valuable lessons.  Premature intervention on our part presupposes that we know what is best. Only God knows what is best.  
• Pride—Before we judge others with capricious diagnosis we ought to carefully examine ourselves.  A consistent habit of looking to “fix” others may actually be an escape to hearing what God wants to do in me!  

Don’t be a junior Holy Spirit!  The first thing to do before intervening is pray.  The second thing we ought to do is pray some more!
 
Inspiration
One of our severest lessons comes from the stubborn refusal to see that we must not interfere in other people’s lives.  It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s order for others.—Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest
 
©1997 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)