Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from eviland your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. ~Psalm 34:11-14 (NIV)
There is a lot of discussion in scripture about judging others, discord, and strife. Those issues of sin all come from the words we speak, and I don’t think many of us take it as seriously as God does. Words can bring unity and words can bring discord and we need to be on our guard about the ones bopping around in our heads before they come out of our mouths! Oftentimes we don’t think about how our haughtiness looks to the Lord. We don’t see that we are entertaining a “superiority” mindset when we think we know better how others should be doing. We don’t realize that we are acting like we are better, or have it together better, because in our professional opinion, our sins don’t “outweigh” the sins of those we are tempted to be critical of. I love the Passion Translations of Matthew 7:1-3 “Refuse to be a critic full of bias toward others, and you will not be judged. For you’ll be judged by the same standard that you’ve used to judge others. The measurement you use on them will be used on you. Why would you focus on the flaw in someone else’s life and fail to notice the glaring flaws of your own?” Refuse to be a critic…ouch! There is so much criticism in our culture and society that it can be difficult not to jump on the bandwagon. Heck, the entire world is divided on this issue or that issue. Sometimes it seems like nobody is walking in one accord, even in our churches! But in the body of Christ, we are supposed to be walking in unity under Christ Jesus’s lordship, following in His footsteps in living for God, by the authority of the word and we are supposed to be turning from evil and doing good!
Jesus fought the onslaught of the enemy with “it is written” and so must we. How about…it is written….in 1 Corinthians 11:31 “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” (NIV) What would your relationships look like if you judged yourself more than you judged others? What would our lives look like if we chose to turn our back on sin verses our entertaining sin? What good could come of it? Lots of good! But get ready…I am here to tell you that when you decide you are done with ungodliness, when you make up your mind to stop disregarding God with your thoughts, words and actions, then all of hell is going to break loose and come against you. That’s how you are going to know you are on the right track! When you choose to pray for someone’s salvation instead of criticizing their actions there is going to be a battle on your hands. But it is the battle we have been called to and the victory is already ours. We have been set free from sin and we need to start walking in that freedom. Not only do we need to walk in freedom, but we need to be setting the captives free! We need to be doing the work of Jesus on the earth instead of the devil’s bidding. Don’t let the enemy of your soul trip you up. You are a child of God and He wants you to act just like Him for your good! When was the last time you led someone to Christ? When was the last time you chose sin which led someone farther away from Christ? Choose today to turn your back on sin. Ask God to show you every time you are tempted and ask Him to give you the strength to resist and overcome. He is always ready to help you, the question is: Do you want His help?
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth. ~Psalm 34:15-16 (NIV)
When was the last time you led someone to Christ?
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