Have you ever listened to a convicting sermon and thought, “(Fill in the name) should hear this?” Or have you received a devotional or Bible verse by email or text feed that spoke to behavior you wish someone else would change? Do you immediately hit forward so they will get the message? I’ve done that, thinking it will help someone’s spiritual maturity—until one day a faithful friend asked an incisive question. “Do you think maybe God might be speaking to you?”

Taken aback, my first thought was defensive. But the Holy Spirit convicted me to do some self-examination. I had to consider if I was the one God wanted the message to reach. By thinking God had someone else in mind, could it be that I was being self-righteous and hypocritical? The words of an old hymn came to mind, “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, oh, Lord, standing in the need of prayer; not my brother, not my sister, but me.” 

I also remembered the admonition in Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV): “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

So, I prayed, confessing my need to be cleansed and for discernment about messages God is speaking to me and not necessarily to someone else.

“Lord, help me to listen and obey.”

Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant letter of the law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross.