Are you quick to judge, criticize and condemn others? Quick to jump to conclusions? I have. Have you? I will be the first to confess my folly and hope you will too. We are all sometimes quick to judge others. How many times have we looked at someone and judged them by their appearance? Only to be completely wrong about them? How many times have we jumped to conclusions about something or someone only to be told later what the circumstances were or the reasons were that led them to that spot? We are each, every one of us guilty of rushing to judgement when we should take a step back, think carefully and reserve judgement until we know someone's complete life story. How did they get there? What brought them to the point of making the decisions they made? James writes in the book of James "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." James 1:19 indeed we should be slow to anger and “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's (someone else's) eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother (someone else), ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's (someone else's) eye." Matthew 7:1-5
I cannot begin to tell you how many times people have wrongly judged me just because I picked up the phone and spoke with someone who was not a Christian, or I associated with a non-Christian person. I say the following to prove a point, and not to boast. The people who have been quick to judge and condemn me disregard the fact that (a) I am a Pastor with many years of Bible education under my belt (b) I have tithed hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Churches over the years (c) I have never ever given a single dollar to any other religion or religious cause in my life. (d) I would not renounce my love for Christ or my US Citizenship for even a trillion dollars. My love for God and Country cannot be traded away for anything in the world.
Yet, people are quick to judge and criticize me. Oh, that Paul, did you know he left Christianity? Oh, that Paul, did you know he has Secular, Jewish, Pagan, Buddhist and Hindu friends? Seriously? Well it turns out that over ninety percent of my friends are white American Christians, and the rest hail from all nationalities, colors, creeds and religions in the world. Did you begin to think that perhaps my influence and persuasion might turn some unbeliever to faith in Christ? As Christians, we cannot live in an isolated world. Everyday we interact with others at the supermarket, at work, at the gym and elsewhere, from other religions, belief systems, cultures, and perhaps even nations. How should we interact with these people? With the knowledge that Him (Jesus) who lives within us is greater than he which is in the world. “...because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” [1 John 4:4-6]
Yet, with this knowledge comes awesome responsibility. We are called to be lights in this dark world. We are to shine the way to glory and to the truth. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” [Matthew 5:14-16]
We are also called to go forth and to make disciples of all nations and of all peoples. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." [Matthew 28:18-20]
We cannot therefore reject those around us who do not believe. We can and should reject their unbelief or their belief in some other religion or way of thinking, however, we cannot and should not reject them. The goal must always be to make them see the truth that there is only one way to God: Only one true religion, and only one way to connect with God, and that is through Christ Jesus. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”[John 14:6]
I cannot begin to tell you how many times people have wrongly judged me just because I picked up the phone and spoke with someone who was not a Christian, or I associated with a non-Christian person. I say the following to prove a point, and not to boast. The people who have been quick to judge and condemn me disregard the fact that (a) I am a Pastor with many years of Bible education under my belt (b) I have tithed hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Churches over the years (c) I have never ever given a single dollar to any other religion or religious cause in my life. (d) I would not renounce my love for Christ or my US Citizenship for even a trillion dollars. My love for God and Country cannot be traded away for anything in the world.
Yet, people are quick to judge and criticize me. Oh, that Paul, did you know he left Christianity? Oh, that Paul, did you know he has Secular, Jewish, Pagan, Buddhist and Hindu friends? Seriously? Well it turns out that over ninety percent of my friends are white American Christians, and the rest hail from all nationalities, colors, creeds and religions in the world. Did you begin to think that perhaps my influence and persuasion might turn some unbeliever to faith in Christ? As Christians, we cannot live in an isolated world. Everyday we interact with others at the supermarket, at work, at the gym and elsewhere, from other religions, belief systems, cultures, and perhaps even nations. How should we interact with these people? With the knowledge that Him (Jesus) who lives within us is greater than he which is in the world. “...because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” [1 John 4:4-6]
Yet, with this knowledge comes awesome responsibility. We are called to be lights in this dark world. We are to shine the way to glory and to the truth. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” [Matthew 5:14-16]
We are also called to go forth and to make disciples of all nations and of all peoples. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." [Matthew 28:18-20]
We cannot therefore reject those around us who do not believe. We can and should reject their unbelief or their belief in some other religion or way of thinking, however, we cannot and should not reject them. The goal must always be to make them see the truth that there is only one way to God: Only one true religion, and only one way to connect with God, and that is through Christ Jesus. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”[John 14:6]
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