Take Heed

 September 24, 2020

Lately I’ve been reading Deuteronomy again. It takes a little more determination than the Gospels or Paul’s letters, but it’s still foundational for both Judaism and Christianity. In the 4th chapter, three times we are commanded to “take heed to yourselves” (vv. 9, 15, & 23), in other words, “pay attention to what is going on inside you.” Too often, we are keenly aware of what is happening all around us, what other people are saying and doing, but are dreadfully ignorant of our own hearts. It’s easy to imagine the problem is someone else, when in fact, our own attitudes and behaviors are our own worst enemies. 

For seven years now, I’ve been working on my attitudes and responses regarding others. Facebook doesn’t help at all; anyone who has an opinion, no matter how crazy or ill-informed, can post it for all to see. Sometimes, they word things quite cleverly, and often I wonder where they are getting their information. I’m sure they wonder the same about me. All these opinions put forth where everyone can see them become fodder for counter-posts and columns of people we don’t even know telling us either how correct or crazy we are. We become quite aware of them, but less so about our own biases. 

The Scripture has plenty to say about our need to be aware of others when it comes to matters of the heart. Do I notice when someone is broken-hearted or discouraged? Can I see through the anger to the injury that caused it? Can I sympathize with the fear another feels? 

Years ago, I had a running conversation with a self-proclaimed agnostic who responded to my posts with an unusual amount of vitriol. He stated that anyone who taught religion to their children ought to be arrested for child abuse. I probed the issue with him, asking how he could be such an authority on child rearing, knowing he had no children of his own. He almost exploded with anger, revealing how he had been physically and sexually abused as a child. I already knew that he had been an ardent believer until his grandfather developed what turned out to be a terminal illness. He prayed and begged God for his grandfather’s life, to no avail. His anger was an understandable, albeit unhelpful, response to his life experiences. These are things we fail to see when people say and do things that rub us the wrong way. 

I cannot see others correctly if I haven’t first “taken heed to myself.” Jesus’ spin on this was, “Take the log out of your own eye before you try to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:2-5). Moses said it first: “Take heed to yourselves.” I’m working on it. The more I know my own heart, the better positioned I’ll be to know another’s.