The Inward Look
“Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” (Luke 17.3, ESV)
Main Point: Before Jesus addresses our brother’s sins, He calls us to examine ourselves first.
It’s fascinating that Jesus begins His teaching on forgiveness not by focusing outward on others’ failures, but by directing our attention inward. “Pay attention to yourselves!” This isn’t a call to self-obsession or navel-gazing, but rather an invitation to honest self-examination before God.
How often do we find ourselves like Habakkuk, crying out “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” (Habakkuk 1:2). We see the wrongs around us—the injustices, the repeated offenses, the seemingly endless cycle of hurt that others inflict. Like the prophet, we wonder why God doesn’t seem to act swiftly to correct these situations.
But Jesus redirects our gaze inward first. Before we concern ourselves with policing others’ behavior or demanding justice for their wrongs against us, we must examine our own hearts. What do we find there? Often, we discover the same capacity for sin, the same need for grace, the same desperate dependence on God’s mercy that we so readily identify in others.
This inward look isn’t meant to paralyze us with guilt, but to prepare us for the radical call to forgiveness that follows. When we truly see ourselves as fellow sinners in need of grace, forgiveness becomes less about superiority and more about extending what we ourselves have received.
Reflection: Self-examination prepares our hearts to forgive as we have been forgiven. What do I discover when I honestly examine my heart before God? How does recognizing my own need for grace change my attitude toward others?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me examine my heart before focusing on others’ failures. Prepare me to extend the same mercy I’ve received through Christ. In His name, Amen.
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