Take Heed to Yourselves

The Lord who orders clean and unclean, birth and purification, servant and master, is teaching one thing throughout: His people must live with holy discipline before His face. The ancient distinctions in food were not given for idle curiosity, but, as Tertullian says, “by pronouncing unclean certain animals which were once blessed, you should understand this to be a measure for encouraging continence, and recognise in it a bridle imposed on that appetite.” The hand that reaches greedily for food often reaches carelessly in speech, anger, and lust. Therefore Christ says, Take heed to yourselves: do not cause the little ones to stumble; rebuke your brother; forgive the repentant again and again; and when you have done all, do not boast, but confess that you are unprofitable servants.

Psalm 57 shows how such obedience is sustained. David does not trust himself in the cave, nor does he answer violence with proud words. He flees under the wings of God, cries for mercy, and waits until calamity passes. Yet his refuge does not make him idle. He fixes his heart to praise before the nations, because God’s glory must be preferred above private ease: “Be exalted, O God, over the heavens, and Your glory over all the earth, and Your kingdom endures to all eternity.”

So let us receive bodily discipline, guarded speech, repeated forgiveness, and lowly service as one rule of life. Holiness is not displayed in lofty claims, but in bridled appetite, a restrained tongue, patient endurance, and mercy shown without counting the cost.