I was reading my Bible the other day and came across these scriptures, Roman 2:1-4 "1Therefore thou art
inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou
judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest
the same things.
2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
3And
thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and
doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
4Or
despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance?"
We often judge the people around us for things they are doing in a condemning manner not realizing or at least conveniently forgetting that we also have sin(s) that fall in the same category that we are judging them for. All it is is the same sin but a in a different form. True, We can look at the evidence given to us by people to see if they are showing forth fruit worthy of eternal life Matt. 7:16 "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" That is not the topic of discussion here, what is the topic is how it's not our job to condemn people. Condemn- to pronounce guilty:convict, sentence, doom. That is the judgment spoken of here. You see when we look at someone who is doing something, lets take someone living in homosexual sin we like to quickly point out the abomination they are living in but at the same time we hold the sexual immorality between men and women at a lower level. You may say you don't but how you would feel about a gay person coming to your church verses a person who is openly promiscuous? Tell me if you are in sexual immorality does it matter? Both are burning in the lust for that which God has said is not right. We often judge a person for being a drunk but we ignore the one (a lot of times the one in the pulpit) who is a glutton. Why? Both are indulging in the desire of the flesh and both actions have been condemned by God. We judge the woman who has had an abortion but we ignore the hate in our hearts; read this verse and see if that's okay 1 John 3:15 " Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." So what am I getting at? Well for one pointing out where someone is fallen without pointing them to the cross is anything but Christ like, second we should practice this verse in Galatians 6:1 " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest
you also be tempted." Remember this also Proverbs 11:30 " The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise." We need to realize we all will stand before God one day and give account for all we have said Matt. 12:36 "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." We will all bow before Him one day and confess He is the only righteous Judge, King of kings and Lord of lords. What do we do then? We look at others and when we see they have sin in their life we praise God for His goodness that HE lead us to repentance, pray for the one who struggling with sin, and then follow in the footsteps of Jesus and seek to bring them to saving power of the Gospel Truth because only the TRUTH can set a person free. Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life no man comes to the Father but through Him. So if you want to see people changed realize you are no better than they are and the same awesome miracle working power it took to save you is the same thing they need, Nothing more and nothing less.
This is pretty good stuff here Chris. Knowing the sewer that God pulled me out of, these verses are incredibly rich and a reminder of 1 COR 4:7-"For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"-ESV I do think that we often take Matthew 7:1 and use it to give liberty for sin in many cases. The admonition, "Do not judge," is not a requirement to be blind to sin and wickedness, but it is a plea to avoid dealing harshly with those who have gone astray. Check out Matt 7:16. We are instructed later on in Matt 7 to be aware of 3 things: Logs, Dogs, and Hogs. We must use judgement to discern which is which. I do agree on the homosexual comment. A lot of sexual immorality going on behind closed doors in the church and we just blast the LGBT community to make ourselves feel better. In Psychology it's called projection. The cheating husband usually accuses the wife of cheating. The liar tends to call out those around them that happen to be honest. It's a common defense mechanism to downplay our own sinfulness. I would also spend some time studying the word "krino" in the Greek. Great insights brother. Keep up the good work.
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