The Gavel.

  Here is a thought. When was the last time you judged someone? When you looked down at a homosexual? When you looked down on someone for sinning in an area you felt God could not forgive? I know I have. It is also easy to look down on those who do judge.

Christ did not judge the adulteress woman. In fact, he told those who would have her stoned (as is the custom in Jewish history) that the one without sin could cast the first stone. No one could. But also how easy is it to say the  Pharisees were evil people. If you look back in history, they saved Israel from a lot of idolatry. Judas Maccabees stood up for what was the truth then.

What got me thinking about this controversial  subject is a movie entitled "To Save A Life."   In it, a guy named Jake learned how to care for the un-lovely of this world. I could not do this movie justice. Anyways, think about it. Christ did not hang around with the "Godly." He fellowshipped with revolutionaries, prostitutes, thieves who he died beside, fishermen (one in particular named Peter),tax collectors who people considered traitors, and the list goes on. the point is...I am too "godly" for Christ.

I in particular have judged my family, friends (especially best friends), as people who do sin as  if I myself am God. He commanded me as a follower of Christ( a Christian by what the world calls today)  to love my enemies, bless those who speak bad about me...but instead, I judge people. This is hatred. James Heinrich Arnold wrote "a man who admonishes(corrects) his brother without love is a murderer.

Also, I judge God himself. I ask him why things in my life have happened to me. Why he lets people die lonely. In the movie I heard a thought that I've heard before, but it never hit me so hard. Why do I let people become lonely? Young people today cling to Gandhi's words "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Can you imagine in the mind of the prodigal son's dad? He did not judge his son. He ran to him and embraced him. Though the son hurt him, he loved his son. I cannot judge anyone. I pray Christ will make his love enter me. 

WE ARE TO LOVE. GOD DOES LOVE EVERYONE. HIS JUSTICE IS PURE.

(Sorry this post is written so raw, I didn't know how else to write it)

The pain that comes from loving

I used most of this post from a teaching I got to listen to this past Wednesday.

    More often than not..we face pain in our lives.I'm not talking about scraping yourself up. It's the pain we all face as we start to lose ourselves.. It means our flesh is still alive. Some have built a "tolerance" to this pain. Others numb themselves for many years and end up with a tall wave of pain or regret that can sometimes overwhelm us.The Father sends us through pain to make us more like his son. Learning to love like Christ does... IS HARD! I don't think that anyone has it easy(I could be wrong! :-) )

To love like he does (and what a love it is!) we WILL have people hate us, people we are close to hurt us, and The Father will seemingly turn his back on us. When we get to the point in which in the midst of all of the pain we  feel we can say "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit" just like Christ did, we give up our "rights," sense of justice, and feel the love Christ has.

 Weeping may last for the night,but a shout of joy shall come in the morning- Psalm 30:5


He has a purpose for every dot and tiddle that you experience. We may not know how God will use us, but his will is done.