Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. (Lam. 3:40)
Expanded Passage: Lamentations 3:34-40
When I used to teach ballet to a group of young girls, some students had more natural grace and skill than others, and some learned more easily than others. However, I found that the girls who were naturally graceful and skilled did not always progress the fastest. Instead, the girls who were most willing to learn and most receptive to feedback were the students who advanced in their skills the fastest.
Similarly, the people that are most likely to please God are not those who naturally appear more righteous outwardly, but those who are receptive and examine themselves humbly, looking for ways to grow. As Jeremiah suggested in these verses, we should not complain at discipline or correction that comes in response to our wandering from God’s will. Instead, by being receptive to God’s correction and by examining ourselves, we will be able to grow closer to him and become the people he created us to be.
Instead of allowing ourselves to be stagnated by pride in the areas where we have succeeded, it is important to continue to reflectively seek out ways to grow in holiness, living as people perfected in love. Through introspection and prayerful reflection, we can continue to humbly receive God’s work of growing and challenging us, returning fully to him in every area of our life.
Spend some time in prayerful reflection on how you can grow.
Grace Aukerman is a recent Kingswood University graduate who is passionate about coffee and about sharing God’s truth through the written word.
© 2023 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
