With Full Awareness
Key Verse to Read and Treasure
For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. (I Corinthians 4:4, ESV)
For Insight
Some of our sins we are aware of and others we are not. Usually it’s the “big”, easily noticeable things or actions that stand out in our mind or we are convicted in our spirit about. Unfortunately, we forget or remain unaware of more sins than we are aware we have committed.
Awareness is not always about sin or wrongdoing or how we have harmed others, but sometimes it is about good things. Like being aware of some benefit we have because of our age, race, or gender. Being aware of something reserved especially for us because we have participated in an activity or service. There is also great benefit of being aware of the promises God has sown or spoken over us because awareness helps us live in and under God’s promises with assurance and confidence.
To be aware is simply having knowledge or perception of a situation or fact, or to be well-informed about a particular situation or fact. While we might be more aware of the dangers of getting too much exposure to the sun nowadays than we used to be, or more aware of the hazards of smoking or drinking excessively; whereas in ages past we would not have had enough information or facts to be aware or take proper precautions.
Like Paul, we can quickly rule out being qualified to judge or measure ourselves and the sins we have or have not committed. Only God can judge us rightly in this manner because the moment we start feeling smug, or that we don’t have anything to put in the wrongdoing category, is the moment we will be way off base and sin because we don’t think we have any sins. Therefore we cannot rightly judge others and we cannot rightly judge ourselves but leave the judging and measuring up to God who is the only One, along with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, qualified to judge without corruption or bias. As Martin Luther used to say we should be careful not to add sins to our plate we have not committed, but it’s also better not to leave any off because we may have done those! We should leave the judging to God alone!
Praying I Corinthians 4:4
God, this is convicting for how many times I have judged myself as innocent or sinless when I have actually sinned or am not innocent and how many times I have misjudged others. Any sinful being cannot rightly judge themselves or others, so it is best and safest to leave judging up to you. We will never get it right. Amen
Prayer Challenge
Ask God to make you aware of your sins and wrongdoing so you can not only confess them to him but be humbled by them.
Digging Deeper
Devotionally Yours 