O YHWH, You are God of Vengeance.
God to Whom vengeance belongs,
Shine forth and be seen!
Rise up, O Judge of the Earth,
Pay back to the proud a deserved compensation....
O the bliss of the one
To whom You teach discipline, YAH,
And train from Your law.
~ Psalm 94:1-3,12 (author)
If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens.
Galatians 6:1-4 (The Message)
Why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.... Each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.
~ Romans 14:10,12-13 (NKJV)
If there's anything Christians are hated for, it's recognizing sin—perhaps because we so often recognize and condemn sin in others, especially those who are not Christ's. In condemning their sin we judge and condemn them, whether intentionally or inadvertently.
Christ allowed that one without sin may "throw stones" at the sinner. We should by no means give sin a nod. But we are not appointed to judge sinners, and we must be careful before we even judge sin. The pride that cries "sin" may too quickly condemn what God does not.
Our approach needs to be cloaked in the humility and compassion which sees another staggering and stumbling under an unbearable load, and will stoop down to offer relief. If we are unwilling to stoop down, we ourselves may stumble and be compensated for our pride.
Judge of the earth, condemnation and vengeance are Yours alone. Jesus, thank You for shedding Your blood to set us free from sin. Holy Spirit, thank You for moving us to hate sin. Father, please manifest in us Your light and love to expose sin and relieve its oppressive weight.
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
This reminds me so much of hypocrits (sp?). So often Christians are referred to as hypocrits, and sadly, rightfully so. We walk a very difficult road. We are sinners, and yet we TRY not to be, and in doing so our every failure can be used against us. We are no better than the unbeliever, in fact, we are worse. We have the knowledge and wisdom and gift of prayer to help us NOT sin, and yet, still, we fail. How ever do we expect the non-believer to understand and accept that when we get caught judging others and not ourselves?
ReplyDeleteI've come to see that we cannot avoid the label hypocrite, because we will always be guilty of the sin we hate.
ReplyDeleteA few scholars maintain that Paul could not have been referring to believers in Romans 7 when he says, "The good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.... O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" But any honest believer knows that we still struggle with sin. Salvation brings immediate delivery from the penalty of sin, but as long as we live in the flesh we will continue to need deliverance from the practice of sin.
If we were delivered all at once I suppose we would not know dependence on God. *sigh*
I've sen it ignored so many times even within a congregation. What a sticky situation but God calls us to repentance and to lead one another to the cross at times. Great post Anne!
ReplyDeleteAnne, what a wonderful post! It's human nature to judge others, to feel superior and therefore *OK*. We need to constantly remember the burden of our own sin.
ReplyDeleteI was reading John today, and struck by Peter's denial of Christ. At the time it seemed like a pragmatic and sensible decision: after all, Peter was *gathering information* outside the High Priest's court, and it wouldn't have made sense to turn himself in. Yet, how deeply this denial cut into G-d. We are all completely separated from the Lord apart from His great mercy and the blood of His Passover Lamb.
Marvelous post my friend.
ReplyDeleteWe must be quicker to reach out a helping hand than to point a condemning finger.
ReplyDeleteAmy & Clifford, I've missed you both. It's good to hear from you!
ReplyDeleteI hope it's obvious how much I'm still learning as I write these posts. I still fall way short myself.