DO YOU HAVE SOMEONE TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO FEAR ABOUT YOURSELF?

In much of my ministry as a pastor and my life as believer, nothing gets more in my way than – myself. I read a short article this weekend by Dr. R. Larry Moyer that spoke to me about being my biggest obstacle in the faith.
The titled of the article was “Six Things You May Have Missed in Seminary”. Much of the article was shallow, but there were two points of wisdom that struck me as insightful and profound. While these points don’t follow upon each other in the article, they do go hand in hand.
The first point was simply that my greatest strengths uncontrolled, would become my greatest weaknesses. At the heart of this observation is the proverbial truth that I can and well, if unchecked, become my biggest obstacle to faith and living of the faith. This is often hard to see in ourselves because in our constant cascade of failings and faults, we long and love to live in our strengths and successes.
The second point of wisdom in this article echoes the truth of Proverbs 27:6a: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend …” According to Moyer, each of us needs dedicated friends who are willing to wound us in a particular way. Such friends are willing to tell me the things about me - I need to fear. We all have a hunger to hear good things about ourselves, and we may even want to hear the not so good things about ourselves. The question is - has a friend ever been so faithful to you, that they told you what you need to fear about yourself? Whether they're aware of it or not, such a friend is grounding you. Such groundings serve to make your steps secure in the truth and in He is the way, the truth, and the life.
This grounding is at the heart of the confession our sins in the Divine Service, if only we’ll listen to it. In hearing and confessing those words, “I a poor miserable sinner,” I ought be very afraid of the wretched man (Rom 7), and in such fear, turn in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, for He alone can rescue me from me (Rom 7). Lord, grant me such a righteous fear. In His blessed forgiveness, the Lord Christ brings me beyond myself and into a daily newness of life.
May the Lord grant me and you such friends, and such fear of ourselves, that we may live and believe in our only Rescuer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This may be obvious to you, but it wasn’t to me!