Sunday, August 29, 2010

Pffft! I'm not judgemental!

Very convicted piece of scripture. ---> James 2:1-13 " 1My brothers,A)"> show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,the Lord of glory. 2For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," 4have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

8If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. 9But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

This was incredibly convicting for me. I mean, I think I do a good job lovin' people and all, but that example of the man in shabby clothes...I have done that. I have gone, "Whoa, check out that outfit. Wow, I think I'm just gonna stay over here." How could I do that? I claim to be a Christian yet judge people, even my brothers and sisters in Christ! Why?!?!

"Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?" My prayer is to be like Christ. I want to be like Him. I know that I stand before Him in filthy filthy rags and He spreads His arms and sets me on His throne with Him.

What have those people I judge in the smallest of ways done to me? Prolly nothing. What have I done to Christ? I crucified Him. He died because of me. It doesn't measure up.

One time I tried this. It kinda worked. But I forget to do it. Every time I think something even slightly unkind about someone, I made it a point to think of three things beautiful about them, outwardly or inwardly and sometimes went as far as telling them. It helped.

Rather, or on top of, doing that, I should think of all the reasons Christ shouldn't have accepted me, but He did (PRAISE HIM!!!). Then exercise His love and acceptance toward that particular person. If God could love a wretch like me, then I, through His power, can love him/her.


1 comment:

Logan Vaughan said...

We put too much value and identity in the opinions of others. I once heard a wise proverb, "Stop wasting your time thinking about what others think about you, because they spend their time thinking about what you think of them." It becomes a game of worry, "What does she think of me?" But how often do we stop and ponder the question, "What does God think about who I am or what I'm doing?" God's opinion is the only one that matters. For crying out loud, Jesus said the world would hate us! Why should we try to please the world?!