Abba,

We all have a god complex.  We want to control, to fix others.

We think we CAN fix others, making them do what we want, what we think they must.

We think it is our job, our responsibility to fix them, to change them.  

So, we nag, we seize control, we attempt to set them straight.

And we grow frustrated when unable to do so.

Because, in truth, it is not our job to fix anyone.  It is not our responsibility to change them, only to speak the truth in love.  

Thus, we grow frustrated when we fail to change them because we have mistakenly taken on a job that does not belong to us.  We have stepped out of our lane.  

Why then must we be burdened with the challenge of seeing one another’s faults and flaws?

It is not so we can endlessly nag.  Rather, it is as the Kendrick brothers declare, it is so we can learn effectual and fervent kneeling.  In prayer we take that which we cannot control, cannot fix, and we leave it, in dependence, in humility, at the feet of the one who sits on the eternal throne, who DOES have the ability to change it.  We learn submission, humility, patience, grace, and peace.  We learn in supplication and intercession what control can never teach us; dependence, surrender, contentment, and joy even while the brokenness and fallen ness persists.  

So, we are confronted with another’s faults.  Repeatedly.  As much for our own benefit as for theirs.  And of course, mainly for your glory!  In being confronted, we are drawn to you for your grace to meet us…and them.

May then, we ever be in a posture of fervent and effective kneeling for the sake of those whose faults we see.  

AND may we humbly repent of the ones that persist in us.

Amen.