Tag: Self-Examination

Perspective on Perspective

I’ve always said that a change in perspective changes everything else, and that really came to the fore for me today. When we read prophetic books like Jeremiah, it’s easy to imagine that the “wicked people” he rebukes are those far from God, outsiders to the faith. But the more I read them the more a chilling realization set in: these are not outsiders he’s addressing—they’re believers, people who are supposed to be part of the family of God.

This shift in perspective changes everything. The harsh words and dire warnings take on a new weight when we recognize that they’re directed inward, toward those who claim to know God but live as though He doesn’t exist. It’s a reminder that being a believer isn’t just about belonging to the right group or knowing the right things; it’s about living in alignment with God’s will.

God’s rebukes through Jeremiah are a call to self-examination. Are we merely believers in name, or are we actively pursuing a life that reflects God’s holiness and love? The people of Judah had allowed their faith to become hollow, a mere shell of what it was supposed to be. They had the outward appearance of God’s people but lacked the inward devotion and obedience that He desires.

This perspective forces us to ask hard questions about our own faith. Are there areas in our lives where we’re just going through the motions? Do we, like the people of Judah, take God’s grace for granted, assuming that our status as believers exempts us from true repentance and transformation?

Jeremiah’s message is a call to wake up. To see ourselves as God sees us and to let that perspective drive us toward deeper faithfulness. It’s not enough to be part of the family of God in name only; we must live as true children of God, fully committed to His ways.

Expectations Are A Window Into Your Heart

There is a LOT to discuss in today’s passage and really, this episode could be a mini sermon series unto itself. But I won’t be talking about David’s “affair” with Bathsheba (I use the word “affair” extremely loosely because let’s face it, she was nobody, she wasn’t going to say ‘no’ to the king. This has every earmark of rape). Rather I want to briefly discuss David’s interactions with Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah.

David gets Bathsheba pregnant while her husband is away at war, so he calls him back from the battle for some R&R and expects that Uriah will sleep with his wife and thus muddy the pregnancy timeline creating reasonable doubt that Uriah himself is the father. But, he doesn’t do that. In fact he doesn’t even go home. Not even after David tried to get him drunk. Not while the boys are still at the front, as was the custom at the time:

David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!”

1 Samuel 21:5, NIV

David’s weakness was women. Like I talked about before, the enemy uses whatever vector of attack is most promising. And — here is the key — David thinks Uriah will act in the same way he himself would in that circumstance. This is something we all do. We tend assume that people will act the same way we would, this is known in psychology as the False Consensus Effect. And so when we think someone will do something bad or attribute bad motives to people, we should take a beat and think about why. It could be that we are basing our thoughts and assumptions on previous behaviour (by the person in question, or some other individual from our past), but it could also be that we are getting a glimpse into our own hearts. It could be that our assumptions are causing our own worst tendencies, thoughts, and biases to bubble to the surface. Our suspicions and attributions may be exposing our own sin!

This is good news! Because once we know about a thing, we can address it. But it’s only good news if we take the time to actually consider WHY we feel any given way and ask the Lord for help in dealing with it. Otherwise we might end up heading down a dark trail that leads to terrible outcomes… which is exactly what happened to David.

2 Samuel 11:1-12:25, 5:14-16; 1 Chronicles 3:5-9, 14:3-7, 20:1; Psalm 51