Father, thank you for the Holy Spirit. I don’t totally understand the mystery of how He is at work in me and yet I also need to “keep in step” with Him. But I celebrate the goodness of this life You’ve called me to, and I ask for greater grace to live it out to the fullest! Let this cooperation with your Spirit particularly control my attitudes toward others. Guard me from thinking I’m better than others, from a willingness to spark contention in others, from being jealous of others. Even if they never know this heart-level sin of mine, you see all. I can’t and I don’t want to hide from you.
God, I see from verses 1&2 how serious sin is, and how one person’s sin can often beget a sin even of a different type in others who respond to it. Help me, if I see sin in others, not to bludgeon them with my discernment, but to play a role of gentleness in their restoration. Save me from temptation toward pride in somehow thinking of myself as more righteous than others. Make me like Christ in that I bear the burdens of others, instead of heaping on them burdens of man-made law and measurement. Protect me from a tendency to measure myself by the affirmation of those who can give me a sense of status or importance. Remind me that at the end of the day, who and what I am is only who I am, by myself, in Christ, before you.
Lord, help me to see the knowledge of your word as a great treasure, such that I’m full of gratitude for it.
Make my life consistently led by your Spirit; I never want to be a pretender who is attempting to use you. Give me intentionality about my words and actions, knowing that I’m always either sowing to the flesh or to the Spirit. Lead me in the path of endurance and perseverance. I’m tired of bearing only short-term fruit; teach me to invest and suffer well for long seasons, that I might see you glorified by the deep, rich fruit it bears in my life and through my life for others. As I encounter each person each day, mature me so that my first thought is “what good can I do to this person?”
Verse 10 ends by suggesting that my efforts at doing good should especially focus on other Christians. In as much as I should do good to all, my limited resources should be spent first on any glaring needs among your own people. Thank you for establishing your church as a new humanity, where we show the world what mutual care looks like. Please give me courage and energy to be a true brother to those hurting or lacking in the church – locally, regionally, and globally. Shape The Source to be a community where we overwhelmingly rise up to meet each other’s needs through prayer, sharing material goods, and also just sharing ourselves in true friendship. Let the depth of our good toward one another astound the unbelieving world around us, so that they would say, “See how these Christians love one another!” Amen.
