Some people get pretty damn indignant if you dare to suggest that what they're doing may not be quite right; 'that's between me & God', they insist! 'You have no right to tell me I'm doing wrong; you don't always do right either'! Why do some people get so pissed off when you tell them a bit of Truth?
It's true that Jesus told His listeners, Judge not, that you be not judged. ( Matthew 7:1 ), but without trying to go into a long discussion of what Jesus meant when He uttered these words, suffice to say that His words were directed at a specific audience, at a specific time, and for a specific situation! While these words may be applied to certain situations today, Jesus was not telling us that sit with Him in the Heavenlies that we should not judge; in fact, He told us that we should!
“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:37 NKJV)
Scripture tells us in several places that we are 'kings and priests' ( Revelation 5:10 )! If kings & priests cannot judge, then who can? Our Heavenly Father instructed His kings & priests under that first ministration to judge; in fact, Jesus told those who dared to judge Him that they should 'judge with righteous judgment' ( John 7:24 ) We are told several times to judge for ourselves whether something is good & right & true!
The parallel passage to the famous 'do not judge' passage clarifies the words of Jesus a bit more; in addition to, or rather in a reiteration of His first admonition, Jesus told His audience not to condemn those whom they were judging. He was not telling them ( SERIOUSLY?! ) that if they did not judge sin, their own sin would not be judged! Rather, He reminded them that, in their own judgment of His followers, they were condemning themselves!
While we are to always proclaim the Truth, we are to proclaim it in Love! I will be the first to admit; I don't always do this, and in fact, there probably are not a lot who really do, or so it would seem. But then again, maybe it's our own definition of Love that's out of whack!
Charles Haddon Shank
No comments:
Post a Comment