Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....June 13, 2022
Aloha family, I pray all is well.
As I mentioned in my email this week, I felt the need to interrupt our current series in order to touch on a subject that God placed on my heart when Terry and I were in Disney World last week. It has to do with our judgement. How and why we judge. The Oxford Language Dictionary defines judgement as: "the ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions."
The definition of judgement is vital in our lives because so much of what we do, say, and teach, is based on our judgement in considering the outcome we would like to see happen. We use judgement in our work lives, our private lives, out relationship lives and our marriage lives.
When I got started last week, in writing this teaching, I got carried away and it became longer than first expected so I am going to break this teaching into two with the second part next week in Reflections.
As you may or may not know, Disney is generally known as an "all inclusive, accepting of all, non-discriminatory, company.
As Terry and I were moving about DW and taking in the sights and rides, I noticed the many people who would primarily fall under the category of "alternative lifestyle" living. This is why I began to write this teaching for you folks. I have never been a fan of the term alternative lifestyle. I disagree with the term. Why do we need a term to describe folks who choose to live their lives "differently" that what the Bible says? Now before you all go off the deep end and call me crazy, left me add this:
I know what the Bible says about this type of lifestyle and how people will be damned to Sheol if they live that way. That is why this teaching was written. I also know for a fact that humans judge others based on lifestyle. My teaching this week is not about the lifestyle people live, it is about the judgement others display toward those who do not "fit" the "Christian" definition of how a Christian should live. In other words, "WE JUDGE PEOPLE!!" Now to the meat of the teaching:
There's a huge difference between making a judgment and passing judgment. We cannot mix the two up. So many times, we "pass judgement" instead of making a judgement.
There is a new John 3:16. The old John 3:16 was John 3:16. That was the verse that everyone knew, the verse that was familiar to all, the verse that you saw plastered all over the place, the verse to which people would point, the verse that even people who didn't know the Lord had somehow committed to their memory. John 3:16 was found everywhere.
The new John 3:16 is Matthew 7:1. Of course the old John 3:16 people knew as "John 3:16."
They could tell you the address of the verse. No one knows the address of the new John 3:16, Matthew 7:1. They just know its principle, and they only hold Christians to this principle, not themselves. "Judge not that you be not judged." -Matthew 7:1
The shorthand for this new John 3:16 is quite simple: Don't judge me. That's our attitude both inside and outside the church. In fact, we use this as a baseline for establishing genuine love.
Genuine love is a love that doesn't judge. Genuine love is a love that receives me just as I am. If you are judging me, you are not loving me.
In Romans 14:10-12 we have what could be considered a companion passage to Matthew 7:1. It's another compelling passage of Scripture that calls us not to pass judgment.
"Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God." -Romans 14:10-12.
Over the past several years, and coming to fruition during this last sojourn to Disney World, I have been on a path of non-judgmental living. It has taken a longer than expected time for me, given my background of living an integrated life. However, God placed on my heart these past few weeks, to really, I mean, truly, turn away from any judgement on anything or anyone. I am challenging myself and every person I know, to make the commitment to "Judge not, lest you be judged."
NEXT WEEK....
We look at how we judge people, how to stop judging others and just love folks for who they are and where God has them in life.