There is too much darkness in all of us and God wants to change this. He wants to shine his light in our hearts. The problem is that we resist this process. Worse still, we then fail to recognise that we are resisting God. Our resistance shows itself in those situations when someone confronts us with our faults and we often respond defensively. It is often in these times that God is at work bringing our faults to light. The Pharisees thought they were righteous when in fact they were highly resistant to God. Jesus would tell them how dysfunctional they had become (verses 37-54), but they didn’t want to face this. Because of this they remained in darkness. Never reject someone just because they challenge where you are, or just because they make you feel uncomfortable, or because they show you up to be wrong about something. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to show us where we are at odds with God’s agenda. Don’t let your desire to be right overtake your desire for truth. The journey into truth is a process in which the Spirit of God exposes our false securities and our self-devised agendas as the rebellion against God that it is. He wants to expose the hidden conflict within us. You will want to resist this but try to embrace it humbly instead. Listen to those who bring a grievance against you without being defensive and without feeling condemned by their words. Be intentionally open to correction.
Ask God to show you where you have gone wrong lately.
Read Luke 11:29-54
