Judgment

Over and over again I have heard people say, “The Bible says, ‘judge not lest thou be judged.” (it does in Matthew 7: 1, but that is not the entire scripture, read the whole chapter to get some understanding on it.)  I felt so convicted and conflicted anytime I frowned upon situations that I considered unbiblical. I mean when I saw or heard of someone committing adultery or being promiscuous, I was quick to judge. Even though I never spoke it in my mind I would be saying, “Shame, shame, shame, you know the right thing to do,” and in my heart I was casting arrows. The problem was not that I was actively walking in judgement and condemnation,  I was not holding myself up to the same standard that I was holding everyone else. I was prideful, and pride comes with a cost and surely comes before a fall.

Let me tell you a little back-story; let’s be real here. Through my first few years of college (no I am not old but I have been through some things) I was doin’ my own thang. Weekly parties with the frats, kickin’ it at some boys house I barely knew, late night rendezvous in the dark, I was doing everything I knew not to do, that my mother told me not to do. I don’t regret my first few years of college, however I could have saved myself and my family alot worries if I would have done what I knew to do, not what I wanted to do. Yes I went to church every Sunday, praised, worshipped, said my halleluias, and opened the good book a few times; I even busted out A’s in most of my classes (Aye, College is expensive I wasn’t wastin’ my families money) but I wasn’t livin’ right. I was so outside of God’s will. I can't not believe the same person that was hangin' out most nights of the week, was tryin' to judge others....

“I ain’t as bad as her."
“Girl look what she got on, leave nothin’ to the imagination.”
“You know that’s a hoe right there.”
“I know I got more class than that."
“Girl I’m classy not trashy.”
"She know she need to quit with all that mess."
"She messy with her's I'm clean with mine."

Often Professing Jesus with the same mouth that I was cutting somebody down with in the next breath; Crying “holy, holy Lord,” while not living out true holiness. At this time in my life I was not glorifying God or truly living for him, I was living for myself. (It is a hard pill to swallow, but I am thirsty and only God can quench my desires.) I was asking God to do things in my life that I did not understand.

Asking “God give me peace,” how can you have any peace when you are not intimate with the peacemaker? Asking “God give me grace,” how can you have grace if you are not gracious to your brethren; Telling God to, “Guide my path,” yet not walking in His way. At this time I was the one trying to be a peacemaker, trying to be grace, trying to guide my own path, and what I needed to do was follow Him who created me.

Consistently I was asking God to “break me,” when in my heart I knew that I didn’t want to be broken as I built up more and more walls around me. Essentially I was living a lie, thus living without God, far from God. I was truly in the church, but the church wasn’t in me. If I would have died during this time, God’s supreme judgment would have sent me straight to hell. (Tough pill to swallow, oversized, hard to get down my throat.)

I know that I am not the only one. Heck you may have experienced the same thing, but you know what we serve an awesome redeeming God. Who though I(We) mess up continuously He is quick to forgive. Our Supreme Justice reigns in our lives continuously. He alone dictates right from wrong and it is our obligation to follow His laws. We should l not judge those around us, yet know what is sin. Sin is sin, but we serve an awesome savior who can deliver anyone out of it. We must learn to be loving and merciful as God is to us. If we see someone in sin we should pray for them rather than talk about them, because with the same laws that we are judging them with we will be judged. I recently read a devotion by Betty Miller, which was one of the inspirations for this todays blog and she put it best….

“Our judgment should be merciful. The judgment we judge others with will be the same way we shall be judged. Jesus had just instructed the people in His sermon on the mount, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7). We can see here that we are able to "store up" mercy. If we want others to be merciful to us when we fail and make mistakes, we must extend mercy to those that we now see who are making mistakes. We need to judge according to God's Word. We are to see if things line up with the Word of God. If we see sin in our own lives, or in others, we must call it sin. Then, we are to pray for those that are in sin, asking the Lord to forgive and deliver them. As we make this kind of honest judgment, we bring help to those in sin, not condemnation. In this way we do not call evil good, but rather we call it sin. Then we can point them to the one who can forgive their sin and help them live a new life in Christ.”

Prayer for the Day (From Betty Miller’s, God’s Wisdom for Daily Living, Proverbs Day 258)

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your Word. I do appreciate You teaching me to be kind and merciful. Lord, help me to judge fairly and correctly when I am called to evaluate a situation. May I have a heart to reach out and help people deal with their sin and help them find their answers in You. Lord, give me wisdom and discernment in dealing with others. Give us righteous judges in our land so that people will receive fair judgments. Be merciful to all of us and deliver us from evil. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Marinate on that.

My prayer (It can be yours to)

God I pray that you will continue to bring wisdom into our lives and show us when we are walking in judgment. Crucify our flesh daily and strip away all those things that are not like you in our lives. Let us walk in true holiness. Purify us Lord, and give us a desire for your will, your way, and your word. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your love. In Jesus Name, Amen

Note: For more from Betty Miller's Proverbs devotionals check out http://www.bible.com/daily-devotional.php
God Bless,

Najeema Iman, I AM Curly Locks

“I believe in Kingdom Blogging!”