My issues...do I have issues?

When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? (Romans 2:1-4)

Too many times, we judge others for exactly the same things we do, say, or feel. It isn't that we don't know these things are wrong and that we shouldn't be engaging in those things ourselves, it is that we can see them best in others! Remember, the eyes focus outward - they don't look inward. We need some 'inward inspection' to point out that we are engaging in similar behavior. I suppose this is why God gave us his Holy Spirit to reside within each of us - so we could have that 'inward inspection' performed by someone who has our genuine best interests in mind.

They are wicked, but you are not without blame. They are probably doing things wrong, but so are you. You cannot 'judge' another, though. That is God's job and his alone. All we can do is pray for each other, holding each other up where we are weak, and live good examples that others can follow. God is kind toward each of us - not quick to judge or punish. He is not tolerant of our sin, but of our need to come to an end of our silliness and folly. He is patient with us because he knows some of us take just a bit longer to 'come around' to seeing our need for his grace and forgiveness than others of us might be at times.

The danger in always pointing out another's 'sinfulness' to them is that we are opening ourselves up for judgment ourselves. It may not come from others, but it will come from God. We need to understand that Christ's gift of grace is available for all mankind - even those we judge the harshest! We are asked to remain focused on what we don't see in ourselves - through the power of the Holy Spirit who resides within. This is all we can 'own' - it is all we are asked to 'own'. God's purpose is that we will each respond to his promptings to allow a 'clean up' of our own issues. Then we can be examples of his grace, kindness, and 'tolerance' to those around us. Just sayin!

What's your real need?

The Scriptures say, ‘I don’t want animal sacrifices; I want you to show kindness to people.’ You don’t really know what that means. If you understood it, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong. (Matthew 12:7)

Picture Jesus out with his followers, walking through the fields, probably on their way from one spot to another. It was the Sabbath - a day which carried very strict rules the religious of the day had to follow if they were to be even remotely close to being acknowledged by God. One such rule was that of not "working" on that holy day - so all manner of normal "housework" or "house care" was to have been pre-planned on the day prior to the Sabbath. This meant they prepared enough bread for two days instead of their normal one, laid aside a portion of the meat they had cooked on the day prior to the Sabbath for the partaking on the Sabbath, and ensured enough water was drawn from the well to make it through. It was like work shut down for the day - because the Sabbath was dedicated to the Lord. 

The only problem with this was that there was also a whole lot of other "rules" added as time went on and the purpose of the Sabbath somehow got "lost in translation". To the Jewish believer of the day, the Sabbath had so many rules attached from how many steps one might be able to walk in that day, to not even being able to pulverize a medicinal herb should the need arise. It was on this day, with this frame of reference, that the Jewish religious leaders point out the followers of Jesus as "non-adherents" to the rules of the Sabbath. They were passing through the fields, hunger setting in, and plucked a few grains of wheat in passing. Shucking the wheat a little in the palms of their hands, they partook of those tiny grains to give them nourishment and stamina for their journey. In so doing, they have "broken the rules" of the Sabbath and are now judged by the religious leaders as "non-adherents" to the Law. It was as though Jesus was being pointed out as one who was leading these people into some type of sin. It was just like Jesus to take their own "rule" and turn it around to show how utterly absurd it was to rely upon the "rule" more than the soul of the one being expected to keep the rule!

Hearing this condemnation, Jesus began to point out how much it mattered that they found nourishment. It was something they didn't have time to pre-plan for when they set out to follow the one who would lead them into all truth and liberty, they didn't know their journey would extend into the Sabbath. Truth was right there being revealed in the person of Christ setting at liberty all who would follow, but the religious leaders could only see the "rule-breaking" behavior, not the hungry hearts of those seeking truth. Isn't it just like us to focus more on the rule being broken rather than the heart behind the rule-breaking? Jesus counters their judging spirit with a pretty awesome answer when he tells them they really didn't know the "intent" of the rule - they were just keeping it without understanding why God gave the rule in the first place. That is sometimes how we go through life - keeping rules without any clue "why" we keep them or "why" the rule was given. We keep the rule because we feel some "obligation" to keep it. Maybe this is the way we view life within "religion" - as a set of rules for which there is no room for violation. We believe penalty awaits those who "violate" the rule.

While there is some truth to this, rules aren't given to penalize or punish the individual - they are given to provide the individual an element of safety or protection when they are kept. Rules place someone under obligation. If we view rules as always carrying a penalty, we will see them like the religious leaders of Jesus' day - judging the behavior of those who don't adhere fully to the rule as "wrong" or "deviants". We often "miss" the intent of the rule because we focus on the "action" over the "heart". Jesus countered with: "I want you to show kindness to people." Jesus was saying when we focus on the action only, we miss need within their heart. We see the behavior and don't even stop to consider the hunger driving their heart. These were "hungry" people - not just physically hungry, but emotionally and spiritually hungry. They longed to be in the presence of the one who revealed truth and who actually embodied truth. This even impacted their "planning ahead" so much that they had no meal prepared for the Sabbath. They were willing to "risk" the violation of the rule in order to be in the presence of the one who would give them what their hearts yearned to receive.

We are "doing wrong" by judging without knowing the heart of the one behind the "rule violation". Do we ever find ourselves seeing only the goodness of others by how well they keep the rules? The lesson for us today isn't whether the rule is right or wrong - it is that the heart is always to be considered anytime there is a violation of a rule. The rules are provided for a reason - but we might have a good reason for violating the rul. The heart always matters more than the rule - failing to see more than the rule will always set us up to discount the needs and the actions of the human heart. Jesus made it a priority to consider the heart - we would do well to follow his lead. Just sayin!

God is kind to you, so...

It is often human nature to judge others by some standard we hold up as the "yard stick" by which we measure their actions. Since the beginning of time, people have made all kinds of misjudgments based on what they "believe" at a given moment. Whenever we choose to compare our actions with those of another, how others respond to our actions versus the actions of the other, or what we imagine to be the better response to a circumstance, we are kind of moving into dangerous territory. The story of Cain and Abel wasn't just put into the Bible to teach us a blood sacrifice would be required for the forgiveness of sins. I was placed there as a way of helping us to understand just how "wrong" judgment can go when we get all wigged-out by our own "measures of success". One son had his gift offering accepted, the other's gift not so much. One was a farmer, the other a keeper of flocks. Cain brought some of the food he had grown, while Abel brought the best part of his flock for an offering. In a moment of "judgment", Cain never connected the value of his gift with the value of Abel's - he just saw the "favor" given to Abel and he began to rage with jealous anger. That moment of judgment led to one of the worst actions anyone can take against another - the taking of a life. The moment is recorded for us, not just so we know jealousy and anger are wrong, but so we think about the actions behind our judgments. They may not be very "accurate" or "honorable" simply because we use a wrong measuring stick by which to measure the actions or responses of another!

So do you think that you can judge those other people? You are wrong. You too are guilty of sin. You judge them, but you do the same things they do. So when you judge them, you are really condemning yourself. God judges all who do such things, and we know his judgment is right. And since you do the same things as those people you judge, surely you understand that God will punish you too. How could you think you would be able to escape his judgment? God has been kind to you. He has been very patient, waiting for you to change. But you think nothing of his kindness. Maybe you don’t understand that God is kind to you so that you will decide to change your lives. (Romans 2:1-4)

We may not be "guilty" of exactly the same sin as another, but we are "guilty" of some sin of our own. We don't like to admit this because it makes us fallible, and it puts all eyes on us. No one wants to admit we do the same "dumb" things others do - especially when those actions are "marginally outside the expected actions" of a child of God. We don't want to admit we gossip about others, so we call it "being concerned" about another. We don't want to admit to having a problem with anger, so we label it "righteous indignation". We don't want to cop to the plea of "guilty" on any account, so we just hide behind our masks and try to fly under the radar. God is the only one capable of "right judgment", so whenever we engage in judging another by some standard we have set within ourselves, we are going to judge by a wrong standard. Even when we claim to use the Word of God as our standard, then launch into actions or activities which are then contrary to the standard laid out there, we are kind of acting a little hypocritical, don't you think?

The sad thing is that we are simply passing judgment on ourselves whenever we do this. "It takes one to know one" - a simple reminder that we recognize the faults of another because those same faults rise up to give us a problem or two in our own lives. The standard we would do well to utilize is the one God uses toward us - that of GRACE. Grace is akin to giving someone a long enough rope to decide they don't want to hang themselves! It is like God gives us enough "play", but never lets us go so far as to actually break that tie with him. Grace brings us back close and even breaks the bonds of that tie to whatever sin we were pursuing so we don't want to go back to it. It doesn't happen because he "judges" us, but because he loves us enough to provide a way for us to no longer fall under the judgment we deserve! Jesus made a way for us to step out from under the judgment and penalty we deserve by our actions. We need to make a way for others to step out from under our judgment and whatever penalty we want to hold over their heads. Their actions may very well deserve some kind of judgment but God's actions on their part are always based in grace - so ours should also be based in similar grace! Just sayin!