Love.
God alone has the authority and ability to judge, condemn, or change a person. A human's view is so limited to what you experience, and even your experiences are limited to what you understand or comprehend.
No man can experience all, therefore no man can know all.
Without having a total view of a situation leaves you without the ability to ACCURATELY judge anyone. Judging anyone at ONLY that given point in which your limited experience and limited understanding intersect with theirs is the same as assuming that person may as well be dead already.
Why?
Because you are saying " this is who u have been, who you are, and who you are going to be, and I deem you _______."
Do you see?
It doesn't matter if you judge them GOOD OR BAD...you don't have the authority or the necessary information to make an accurate assessment. You are bearing false witness against this person.
And by " morally murdering" this person, you limit your ability to love this person, because who really tries to love a dead person. Who cares what a dead person feels like past sympathy? Who cares wether a dead person is decaying? Rather,who actually tries to stop his decaying? But the living we care for. The living we try to save. We try to stop their loss of life. We try and heal their sickness. We try.
God does,we try.
Even this is beyond you Christian.
God has not tasked you to judge the world for Him. He doesn't need any help there.
He hasn't tasked you to save the world. He's already done it.
He hasn't tasked you to be perfect. He knows you are incapable.
He has however given you one task....Love.
Those who call themselves Christians need to understand some simple math.
God=Love
To follow God is to follow Love. To submit to God is to submit to Love. To love God is to love Love.
Do we realize how many times that Christ, the namesake of the religion, PREACHED LOVE OVER RIGHTEOUSNESS? Few examples: healing on the sabbath( broke religious law, saved life) water to wine ( they drank all the wine, he made more at the loving request of his mother..do you think anyone got drunk off the extra wine?), flipping tables in church ( protecting people from the religious leaders preying on theirs fears and love of God by selling things that were religious idols in effect) , etc....
Let's look at what the Bible says...
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. This is my command: Love each other. "(John 15:9-12, 17 NLT)
"You welcome those who gladly do good,
who follow godly ways. [God]
But you have been very angry with us,
for we are not godly.
We are constant sinners;
how can people like us be saved? We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds,
they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
and our sins sweep us away like the wind. Yet no one calls on your name
or pleads with you for mercy.
Therefore, you have turned away from us
and turned us over to our sins. And yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, and you are the potter.
We all are formed by your hand. Don’t be so angry with us, LORD.
Please don’t remember our sins forever.
Look at us, we pray,
and see that we are all your people. (Isaiah 64:5-9 NLT)
Do you see Christians? We have lost our way! WE ARE NOT LOVING OURSELVES OR OTHERS THE WAY GOD HAS LOVED US!
He loves us without reason and without worthiness, constantly forgiving and withholding judgement in order to spare us His wrath, and we are to reflect that love onto others.
THIS IS YOUR CALL CHRISTIANS!
Even evangelism is a call to spread the good news that GOD LOVES YOU AND HAS PROVIDED AN ESCAPE FROM YOUR DESERVED PUNISHMENT.
Why should you be punished?
You have failed to love (check the commandments,all are violations of love), which He holds as most important, because GOD IS LOVE!
NOT LOVING IS A PERSONAL OFFENSE TO GOD BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT LOVING SOMETHING THAT HE DOES!
US! ALLLLLL OF US!
Please Christians I plead with you to hear what John the Baptist is saying
"But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. [YOUR LOVE IS THE RULER TO MEASURE YOUR LIFE, NOT YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS] Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:7-10 NLT)
Get it?
John was not talking to NON CHRISTIANS, HE WAS TALKING TO US! God doesn't care that you call yourself Christians. He doesn't care if you side with the side that has been right in the past ( "we are descendants of Abraham"). He cares about you individually. He wants YOUR HEART, FULL OF LOVE.
This is what it means above in Isaiah when he says " you love those who follow godly ways... But You are angry with us, for we have not been godly".
Let us return to the truth that God has shown us.
Love first.
Love hard.
Love in spite of.
Love instead.
Love anyway.
Love regardless.
Love again.
Love always.
This is GODS LOVE.
If it is not yours, repent. (turn back to God, to Love)
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.
"(Matthew 7:21-23 NLT )
And what does He expect? What are his rules, his laws? Well theres just one that we've read.
Love.
Love God
Love [ALL] Others
Love Yourself
“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.
“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for HE is kind to those who are unthankful AND wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:32-37 NLT)
I pray that God speaks to you through me and that His love outshines my pride and yours. With all the love that He has given me, I send you hope, love,peace,and joy, which comes from He who has loved us.
Kendrick L. Champlin
February 18, 2012
