Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. ~Romans 14:4 (NIV)
Who do you have in your life that isn’t perfect? That shouldn’t be a tough question for any of us. Having perfect people in our lives isn’t the norm. We have to live with, work with and share our lives with imperfect people every day…and imperfect people have to do the same with us. But that doesn’t mean any of us have the right to not love and demonstrate God’s goodness to each and every one of them. We as believers are called to love ALL people unconditionally, just as our Father in Heaven loves us. It grieves the Lord when we don’t love each other the way we know we should. In Ephesians 4:30-32 we read “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (NIV) All of us make mistakes. All of us have weaknesses. God didn’t call us to point out people’s weaknesses; He called us to love them despite their weaknesses, He has empowered us to encourage them and to help them see their potential with patience knowing that the Lord is even more concerned about their success in life than we are. God has called us to show Christ’s love in every way we can. The Bible tells us to be tenderhearted, understanding, and forgiving.
Being forgiving doesn’t mean we have to let others who have betrayed our trust or put their desires ahead of us run all over us. We are called to forgive and not judge. Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and come follow Him; the ruler couldn’t find it in his heart to do that and went away. Jesus didn’t tell the crowds “Look at that rich young ruler, what a fool. He just made the biggest mistake of his life” and Jesus of all people would have had the right to judge but He didn’t. He let the man walk away. Too often we judge others because they don’t measure up to the standards that we think they should live by. But when we criticize others in their circumstances, we find ourselves in those very same circumstances. This is why Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:2 “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (NKJV) Live your life in such a way that you avoid that measure coming back to you, but if you do find yourself there, repent, there is a lesson to learn. Then accept God’s forgiveness and next time you have an opportunity to overlook other’s weaknesses and shortcomings…take it! When we truly love the Lord more than ourselves, we will take the high road and do the difficult because we know that is what pleases Him!
And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him. ~1 John 4:21 (AMP)
Have you found yourself in the same circumstances that you have judged someone else in?
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