Lord, Is It I? — Matthew 26:22
Let Christ examine me.

Lord, Is It I? — Matthew 26:22

 Let Christ examine me.

The progression I am learning and sharing as I learn that is across these lessons is:

Take the log out of my eye

→ Lord, set my heart free

→ Lord, is it I?

→ What would You have me to do?

→ Follow thou Me

→ If God peradventure

→ Sow in tears

→ Wait with patience

→ Reap in joy.

That is a journey.

Come Sit With Me A While . . .

1. Let's begin with the tears — the real-life story

The Lord has been teaching me that we don't begin with somebody else's wrongdoing.

We begin with why loving people can hurt.

There are times when we see someone we love making choices that are hurting them. Sometimes those choices hurt us too. And sometimes we have the ability to step in and rescue them from the immediate consequence.

But what happens when helping them out of the consequence isn't actually helping them?

What happens when love requires us to step back?

That hurts.

You aren't crying because you don't care.

Sometimes you're crying because you do.

That brings you naturally to:

And, as the Lord is teaching me, don't rush to the joy yet.

Stay with it little by little, and LET patience have her perfect work in you. 

Stay with the sowing.

2. What does it mean to sow in tears?

This is where your experiences become illustrations rather than accusations against particular people.

Sometimes sowing in tears looks like:

loving when love isn't returned;

blessing when somebody curses you;

praying when somebody despitefully uses you;

telling the truth when it would be easier to avoid it;

saying no when giving them what they want would help them continue doing what is hurting them;

walking away when you desperately want to rescue them;

and trusting God when you cannot make another person change.

Jesus actually gave you the language:

That's sowing.

And sometimes you do it in tears.

Not because obedience feels good.

Because Christ said to do it.

3. But before I examine them: “Lord, is it I?”

This is where Take the Log Out of My Eye belongs.

Because there is a danger when we've been hurt.

We can become very good at seeing everybody else's sin.

Jesus says:

Notice Jesus doesn't say that nothing is wrong with the other person.

He says first.

That's important.

And then you arrive at the disciples.

Jesus says somebody will betray Him.

And instead of twelve fingers pointing across the table:

That's your first backbone Scripture.

Lord, before I decide what is wrong with them—examine me.

This is where discernment begins.

4. “Lord, set my heart free.”

Now you're moving from examination into what Christ is doing inside you.

Maybe they really did lie.

Maybe they really did betray you.

Maybe they really did use you.

Maybe they really do blame you.

Biblical self-examination does not require calling their wrong right.

But their wrong doesn't have to rule your heart.

This is where what you've been learning about forgiveness belongs.

One evidence that the Lord is freeing my heart is that I can sincerely pray for the person who hurt me.

Because Jesus commanded exactly that.

And then:

My flesh may rehearse it.

My flesh may want vindication.

My flesh may want them finally to understand what they did.

But:

Nevertheless, what does Christ say?

That's where the freedom begins.

5. Discernment: seeing fruit without taking God's place

This is a major part of the teaching.

Jesus does tell us:

So Christianity isn't blindness.

You are allowed to learn from fruit.

If someone repeatedly proves unfaithful, I don't have to entrust them with greater stewardship.

If giving repeatedly enables destructive behavior, love does not require me to continue financing it.

If someone continually lies, forgiveness doesn't require me to pretend I haven't learned something about their reliability.

But here is the guardrail:

Fruit helps me discern how I should walk.

It doesn't appoint me judge of another person's heart.

And suddenly the question changes from:

“Lord, what are You going to do about them?”

to:

“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”— Acts 9:6

6. “Lord, is it I?” has another meaning

This discovery you just made belongs right here.

At first:

Lord, is it I who needs correction?

But sometimes after He searches you:

Lord, is it I whom You are sending?

That is beautiful.

Sometimes obedience means silence.

Sometimes obedience means leaving.

Sometimes obedience means giving.

Sometimes obedience means not giving.

And sometimes He actually sends us to speak truth.

Then our responsibility becomes:

Not:

“I see something wrong, therefore I must correct it.”

But:

“Lord, is this mine to speak?”

Part 2

• What is that to thee? follow thou me. — John 21:22

  
  

  I don't have to manage everyone else.

7. And sometimes Jesus answers:

“What is that to thee?”

This is your second backbone Scripture.

Peter wanted to know what Jesus was going to do with somebody else.

Jesus answered:

That is enormous for someone who cares deeply.

Because caring can quietly become carrying

something Christ never gave us to carry.

I don't have to manage everyone else.

I don't have to fix every ministry.

I don't have to make somebody understand.

I don't have to make someone become responsible.

I don't have to force someone to recognize what they've done.

I have to follow Jesus.

Part 3

•  If God peradventure will give them repentance… — 2 Timothy 2:25

  
  

  I cannot produce repentance in another person.

8. “If God peradventure…”

And now comes your third backbone Scripture.

This is where the whole teaching releases the other person back to God.

Pause and take your time through this

. . .

“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves;

if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;”— 2 Timothy 2:25 KJV

. . .

Look at what surrounds that verse:

not strive;

gentle;

apt to teach;

patient;

meekness.

Then:

God gives repentance.

That answers something we can be wrestling with for a long time:

Pause and take your time through this.

There are three passages that connect around the word acknowledging, but each shows us something a little different.

First, the three passages I am seeing do connect around acknowledging

—but they are doing slightly different things:

1. Philemon 1:6 — acknowledging every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

That is about recognizing what Christ has placed and is producing in the believer

2. Proverbs 3:6 — “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

   That is about acknowledging the Lord Himself in every part of our life and letting Him direct us.

3. 2 Timothy 2:25 — repentance “to the acknowledging of the truth.

   ”That is about God granting repentance so a person comes into recognition and acceptance of truth.

So the Lord is teaching us a beautiful progression:

Acknowledge Christ in me.

Acknowledge the Lord in all my ways.

Acknowledge the truth when God brings me to repentance.

Then John 17:3 tells us what eternal life is:

God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

And Jesus tells us that life eternal is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.

This sentence is especially important to ME:

That is actually a powerful transition because it makes the lesson personal again.

Sometimes the person “opposing themselves” does not even know they are doing it.

Christ in me taught me like this and I replied:

Lord, I didn't even know I had a log in my eye.

That connects directly back to Matthew 7.

Not every blind spot is deliberate rebellion.

Sometimes we genuinely do not see ourselves clearly until the Lord, through His Word, brings light.

This may be one of the deepest truths in this whole teaching:

When God brings us to repentance, truth becomes more important than defending ourselves.

What did Jesus pray for those who crucified Him?

Glory Halleluah, God has shown us all His Mercy!

“Lord, is it I?”

becomes the posture that allows truth in.

Not:

Who can I blame?

How can I defend myself?

Why are they doing this to me?

But:

Lord, is there something here You want me to see?

And if He shows us:

Acknowledge the truth.

That is exactly what 2 Timothy 2:25 says.

We can care for someone.

We cannot care someone into repentance.

We can sow.

We can speak.

We can pray.

We can love.

We can obey.

But we cannot produce the harvest.

9. Then comes patience

I believe patience needs its own section because otherwise we jump too quickly from tears to joy.

There is something between sowing and reaping.

Waiting.

And patience isn't only God working in them while you're waiting.

He's working in you.

That's one of the biggest discoveries in everything I've been learning and sharing in Christ Jesus.

You might think perhaps you are waiting for someone else to change?

Meanwhile Christ is teaching you:

discernment,

boundaries,

obedience,

forgiveness,

stewardship,

when to speak,

when not to speak,

when to give,

when not to rescue,

and how to love without taking responsibility for somebody else's choices.

The waiting isn't empty.

Christ is teaching His disciple.

•  This is where Christ showed me. My actual marked Bible — Philemon 1:6

This is where the lesson turns toward what Christ has been producing in us.

• They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. — Psalm 126:5

  
  

  JOY is the beautiful Hope in Today encouragement to you.

10. NOW we arrive at Psalm 126:5

And this is where we begin to see what Christ has been teaching us through it all.

The joy isn't necessarily:

Everybody I prayed for finally changed.

That's important.

Some may.

Some may not yet.

Some may never respond the way you hope.

Your joy cannot depend entirely upon another person's repentance.

There is also joy in discovering:

Jesus was faithful while I waited.

I learned to trust Him.

I learned I didn't have to rescue everybody.

I learned that saying no doesn't mean I stopped loving.

I learned I could pray for someone who hurt me.

I learned I could tell the truth without hatred.

I learned I could recognize fruit without becoming judge.

I learned I could obey when Christ said go.

And I learned I could obey when Christ said:

“What is that to thee? follow thou me.”

That's Hope in Today.

Not hope only that someday everybody around us will change.

Hope today because Christ is changing us while we wait.

Christ brings the entire teaching home

I think the final movement should return exactly where we started:

“Lord, is it I?”

Lord, is it I who needs correcting?

Lord, is there something unclean in my heart?

Lord, is it I You are asking to speak?

Lord, is it I You are asking to help?

Lord, is it I You are asking to step away?

Lord, is it I You are sending?

And when He sends:

Lord, give me the courage to obey You.

Then leave the result with Him.

Because Christ is the Teacher.

We are still learning to walk with Jesus.

And that makes the ending almost inevitable:

Come sit with me awhile.

“Lord, Is It I?”

Sowing in Tears Psalm 126:5 becomes the beautiful testimony running underneath it—the beginning is tears, the middle is patience and obedience, and the fruit is joy.

And these three images become visual chapter markers:

“Lord, is it I?” — Let Christ examine me.

“What is that to thee? follow thou me.” — I don't have to manage everyone else.

“If God peradventure will give them repentance…” 

— I cannot produce repentance in another person.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.