Scrutiny
1
Samuel 16:1B, 6-7, 10-13A
Ephesians
5:8-14
John
9:1-41
Divine Inspiration
Today is the 2nd
Scrutiny. The word scrutiny tends to
conjure up a negative feeling. We may
think of our words and actions as being scrutinized by others, and the possibly
criticized or judged. And few of us like
that. But the word scrutiny here isn’t
about looking with the purpose of criticizing.
It’s really about looking deep, deeper than you typically look or see on
a normal day. In the Lenten Season, it’s
meant to encourage us to look deep into ourselves, our hearts, our words and
our actions.
In the reading from
the Old Testament, the Lord said to Samuel, “Not as man sees does God see,
because man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.” God sees into our hearts every day, whether
it’s Lent or not. What does he see? Do we know?
Have we looked into our own hearts recently to see what’s living
there? And if we have, do we like what
we see? This is what scrutiny is all
about. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
and the Gospel are all about seeing, coming out of the dark and the blindness
and really taking a look at ourselves.
And then, once we see, it’s time to make the change that we want in our
lives. It’s not about changing out of
fear of judgment. It’s about making
changes out of a love of God and others that helps us to love ourselves.
Lent is half
over. But that doesn’t mean we can go
back on auto-pilot. No, we need to take
this time to ask God to open our eyes, to give us the courage to really
look and see deep into our hearts, and the strength to work on the dark
areas we want to clean up. Only God can
help us with this. It’s a reminder to us
of just how much we need Him – with all our hearts, souls and minds. And through this time of scrutiny, of asking
God to open our eyes and work on what we see, we will come through with a
deeper, richer loving relationship with God, with each other and with our own
selves.
Amen.
Readings and Divine
Inspiration from Sunday, March 15, 2015
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