"Judge not, that ye be not judged...."
People, who otherwise do not care anything about the Bible, are aware of this one verse in the Bible. Every time Christians make a stand for Biblical righteousness, we get this verse thrown at us. To these people, this seems to be the only verse in the Bible. But before I get too carried away here, let me admit that sometimes they are right. Some of us can be downright self-righteous about the stands that we take for Jesus. There are those of us who look down our noses at people and act judgmental towards them, as though we are not "sinners saved by grace." Jesus detested the self-righteousness of the Pharisees and condemned them for it. Therefore, let's be careful that we are not, or do not appear to be, self-righteous. On the other hand, this verse does not mean that we are not to take a stand for Biblical righteousness. If the Bible condemns something, we cannot accept it because it has gained acceptance in the world at large, and might even be ahead in the sacred polls. (By the way, I'm not just referring to homosexuality.) When we oppose sin, we are doing what the Old Testament prophets did, what Jesus did and what the apostles, including Paul, did. We are especially to take a stand within the church against unrighteousness, for judgment begins "at the house of God." We are also not to accept unrighteousness outside of the church as normal behavior. We are certainly not to judge those people, but we are to remind them of Biblical righteousness. If we approach them as though we have never sinned, we will not be effective with them, but if we approach them in love and concern for their souls, they might listen to us. Every time I witness, or preach from the pulpit, I am aware of my own shortcomings. This reminds me to be loving instead of judgmental. But we can't allow the fact that we have sinned to make cowards of us and just give in to whatever the polls say. The solution is that we approach people as Jesus did, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our activities, and we will be more effective. Take a stand but do it humbly. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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