May 7

Step 5: We admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

May 7

Recommended Reading Psalm 24 and 1 Peter 1

An interview with Corrie ten boom, who spent many years in a Nazi concentration camp; Ms. Ten Boom was a Christian imprisoned for being a sympathizer to the Jewish people.
The special temptation of concentration camp life – the temptation to think only of oneself, took a thousand cunning forms. I knew this was self-centered, and even if it wasn’t right, it wasn’t so very wrong, was it? Not wrong like sadism and murder and the other monstrous evils we saw every day.

Was it coincidence that joy and power drained from my ministry? My prayers took on a mechanical ring. Bible study reading was dull and lifeless, so I struggled on with worship and teaching that had ceased to be real. Until one afternoon when the truth blazed like sunlight in the shadows. And so I told the group of women around me the truth about myself – my self-centeredness, my stinginess, my lack of love.

That night real joy returned to my worship.*

Thought for today: Who would blame Corrie for thinking only of herself? Imprisoned in a death camp, how does one come to believe that they are sent there to serve others? I suspect that self-pity and the other cunning forms of self-centered living may slither through your inventory list. Who would blame you for thinking only of your suffering? How will you or anyone else come to believe that the second half of your life might hold the promise of joy? If it happened for Job and ten Boom – why not you? The only thing holding you back may be a willingness to be honest with God, self and others.

Thought for tomorrow: The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being. Proverbs 20:27 NIV
May God grant you the wisdom and the courage to allow His lamp to search your spirit!

May 7
Teresa McBean

* Corrie ten boom, The Hiding Place (New York: Bantam books, 1971), pp. 27-28.