Welcome to the longest post ever. Be ready to park and read a while. Or don't., but it is long. Don't let that deter you though, or do! Please grab a cup of hot chocolate and stay a while. (I'm kidding. You don't have to have hot chocolate.)
Judgement seems to be a hot topic these days. If you're not aware, there seems to be a lot of offense given and to be had these days. Everything from articles to cups has people across the lovely United States all riled up. I have two thoughts weighing on my mind. Don't judge and don't forget God's judgment. Don't Judge As I've grown, fallen, and grown in my faith, this is something I've struggled with, dealt with, failed at, and overcome (and failed at again). Before I knew the Lord as my Savior, there were many things of which I was unaware. When I came to know the Lord as my Savior, there were still many things of which I was unaware. Hebrews 5 7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. 11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Y'all, I remember my Stinky (notice the capital S) attitude I had a little bit after I accepted Jesus. I was very blessed to have someone disciple me, and I was able to grow in the Word (praise God!). However, my flesh took over at some points, and I took what the Lord had shown me and put a worldly twist on it by thinking I was just quite righteous. Now, that was not at all what I intended, but at the end of the day, that's what I did. My learning of the Word sort of became a list of do not's and because I did not, I was doing good. I grew to have my own convictions (praise God!), and all of a sudden I thought everyone ought to have the same convictions. At one point, hidden in my heart, I decided if people didn't, they must not know Jesus. Now that sounds really, really bad (and it is), but let me explain. For instance, I might see a picture posted of someone on Facebook doing something or being somewhere I did not agree with, and the first thought that entered my mind was 'I thought they were a Christian'. WOAH. First of all, I do not know anyone's heart. Just as easily as someone can "look" saved and not be saved, someone can "look" lost and not be. (Let's pause a moment. I do believe, and I'll get to this shortly, with Jesus in our heart we cannot help but produce fruit. With that, we lay down our old lives [2 Corinthians 5:17], but still not my place to judge. 1 Samuel 16 7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. See, I don't know people's hearts. I'm not God. I'm not omniscient. I have no idea what that person is, has, or will go through. Forgive me for being super unspiritual, but sometimes I have bad days! I lose my patience, have unkind thoughts, and sometimes I'm even lazy. Y'all, I sin. I'm in my flesh on this earth, unfortunately, and I fail God many times. But praise God for His love, grace, mercy, and divine plan for a Savior! God, praise His Holy Name, does not look at our outward appearance. Let me tell you how thankful I am for that! I have always said God put my heart in a bubble, or maybe bubble wrap (it's fun), and guarded it! I don't know why, but when I entered that womb, He just decided to take special care of me (I hope you all feel the same way!). See, I should not- should not- have the wonderful life I have. I am blessed beyond what my mind could fathom. Sadly, I have not always known Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Sadly, I made poor decisions at points in my life. I did not honor God in many ways. Still though, He welcomed me, wretched me, into His family with loving and open arms, and He changed (hallelujah) my life. Earlier, I told you how I thought I was doing good. I was "righteous," y'all. My righteousness was but filthy rags. Some of the "good" things I was doing were simply to please other people. You know where that got me? NOWHERE. I was learning, growing, and loving Jesus, but I was coming short. Why? I didn't let Him take the wheel (no need to break out into song). I was doing what I thought was right, because I wanted to earn it. I wanted to earn the love of my Savior and the acceptance of those around me. You know what's pretty amazing about God? You don't have to earn His love. No, not an ounce of it. You see, He loves you so much, that He knew you would sin, and so He created a plan of salvation for you. He loves you so much, that He knows that, even if you have accepted or do accept His Son as Savior, you will still sin, but He STILL let His precious Son die on that cross- for you. Let me tell you what my self righteousness got me. It got me in a lot of hurt. I was running around thinking I was something with the right clothes, right words, right this, right that, and I was so wrong. Now, I do have standards and convictions, but I now know that it is not of me but it is of the Lord. The convictions God gives you might not always match the convictions He gives me, and that's OK! James 4 17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. 1 Corinthians 15 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. I firmly believe God gives us certain life experiences and convictions because of the people we will meet. What does that mean? I may be able to reach someone that someone else couldn't reach because of something God allowed me to experience or something He gave me. There are many people who will be able to minister to others that I never will be able to reach. Think about that. It is so natural for us to be drawn to people to whom we relate. One of the most important decisions we make outside of salvation and marriage and alongside family and such is where we attend church/with whom we worship. Oftentimes, that choice is made based on the people and beliefs those people have. We love to relate to people. If not, all talk would be small talk, and no one wants that. Mark 16 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Matthew 28 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. God commanded me to share His Word. He didn't tell me to condemn. He didn't tell me to judge. He didn't tell me to push people away. He didn't tell me to make people uncomfortable. Now if someone gets convicted by the Good Lord, that's between Him and that person, but it is not, not, not my place to make that happen. Never, ever do I want someone to feel less than because of me, because I am nothing. I am a sinner saved by grace, and my hope is that any and all I get to share the love of Jesus with will come to the realization of their own sin, repent, and experience God's wonderful grace. Matthew 22 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. He did, however, tell me to love. God wants us to reach people, and I think reaching people involves success. What does that mean? I don't think God wants us to share His Gospel or His love in a way that makes it undesirable. Sharing the Gospel in a way that makes it undesirable seems pointless. God wants people to come to His saving grace. Remember God's Judgment Before starting this section, I feel like I should add that God's grace is not an excuse to sin. He didn't humble Himself, come to this earth, and die on the cross so we can sin as we please. Yes, we will fall. No, that doesn't give you liberty to ___________ (fill in the blank with a sin of choice). Grace is a beautiful thing, and I don't think it should be abused. God is love. God is not just love. The Bible clearly shows His hate for sin. It tells us very plainly that if we do not repent from our sin and accept Him as Savior, we will go to hell. Gasp. I said the H word. Here's the hard truth. Hell is a real place, and people have gone, are going, and will go there. Matthew 25 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. It is Revelation 20 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. I think it is equally important to share this. We are living in a day of being offended, and I feel like God's Word has been embarrassingly watered down. (I could get on a soapbox about how we can't proclaim the Name of God, but people are allowed to use it in vain quite openly, but I won't today.) We all adore having our ears tickled and not feeling conviction by God's Word, but here's the deal- we are supposed to be set apart. There should be change that comes about after Jesus enters your heart. I've heard it said this way, "If a God that big is inside of you, He is going to start poking out." Y'all! You can't hide His wonderfulness! All that love! All that grace! All that mercy! Don't you just want to go and share it with someone right now? We need to know about Heaven and hell. We need to know about God's love and His wrath. The God of the Old Testament is the same God we worship today. He has not changed. Expect people to be offended. Expect people to not want to hear what you have to say. Expect people to think you're being judgmental, even if you aren't. When sharing, I think it is so important to approach people with a loving and humble heart. We must also remember that we will experience rejection. 1 John 3 13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. John 10 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Rejection will happen. Think of it this way, though. They're rejecting Jesus- not you. Can you imagine how He feels? He came to this earth KNOWING people would sin against Him, and He chose to die anyway. Fine Line In my short time here on this earth, I have heard many share hell, fire, and damnation as well as love, peace, and God. Here is what I have to say to both of those things- amen. God is love. God is wrath. No, He is not sitting around waiting for you to mess up so He can send you to a fiery eternity (clearly this isn't the case- He sent His Son to die for you after all). Once in a Bible class I attended, the teacher talked about this, and it often comes to mind. God is not a "Gonna Getcha God". He WANTS you to accept Jesus Christ. He WANTS you to spend eternity with Him. He is a God of love and relationships. He desires only the very best for you. God also chastises us. This is how we know we are His children. Think about a parent-child relationship. Can you imagine what it would be like if parents never disciplined their children? (All the grocery store workers said amen.) Hebrews 12 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. When we accept Christ, our lives change. Your want to's, don't want to's, and everything in between will be dramatically morphed, or at least somewhat morphed. The dramatic difference occurs when you walk closely with Him. 2 Corinthians 5 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new Eternity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWk7RUg3ZV4 I watched this video today, and I was in awe. My current situation is much like a game of tug of war. You see, I am a people pleaser (I started a post about that. It's currently sitting in the draft pile. Maybe I'll get to it later). I just adore making other people happy. Sometimes that is a good thing, and sometimes it's not. Sometimes it gets me in a pickle of jeopardizing my obedience to God. It has recently become a desire of my heart to consider adopting/having a baby. Yellow car boy and I are gungho and hesitant all at once. The good news is, I was once hesitant about his yellow car. It took me a while to become gungho, but we got there (that may be for a later post as well- not in the draft pile yet, though). Ok, back to pleasing people. I have so many amazing people surrounding me, and they are all very diverse in many ways. With that whole baby thing, I battle the barefoot and pregnant vs. working mom dilemma (y'all calm down, I know those are extreme titles). In discovering my disease to please, I'm seeing the battle isn't just internal, but it is "external." All of the amazing, diverse people certainly have varying ideas about the above subject. All that said to say I've focused more on everyone else than I have God. I've worried about their "judgment." What will they think? Will the disapprove? Will I disappoint? Are people going to think less of me? Will people think I'm off my rocker? As I watched Francis Chan's video, eternity was put into perspective. We work so hard on this earth to make such a short, short period of time "worthwhile." Before we judge, or perhaps before we feel judged, let us remember to focus on our Heavenly Father, His commandments, the people He wants us to reach, the gifts He has given us, and the very special purpose/mission He has given us on this earth.
1 Comment
m_east
12/30/2015 09:47:20 pm
Amen sister! :)
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Saved by God's amazing grace and living this divinely put together puzzle of a beautiful life He so graciously blessed. Archives
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