Tuesday, 21 July 2009

• To Love or to Judge?

          What do you think about prostitutes? Would you hang out with them? What about a man with a deadly disease that you could easily catch if he simply breathed on you? Would you stop and take the time to talk to a poor man begging for money on the side of the street? Would you take the time to get to know the outsider at school and become friends with him?
  

          Personally I'm not so sure that I would have the guts to do these things. But I remind myself that Jesus did all these things. Jesus turned the world upside down in the way that He acted, in what He said, and how He went about doing ministry.

          This year I went to the Sonshine music festival in Wilmar, MN. It's all Christian music there. But if you had to figure out the kind of music they played by the people that were listening you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this festival and a secular one. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between these people and the people that roam around a high school.

         The world has all these clique names for people. If you were to judge the people like that at the festival you would find emos, preps, goths, stoners, goodie goodies, geeks, nerds, and the list goes on and on. My point is that you couldn't tell just by looking at people's outward appearance that any of them were Christian. I'm not saying people didn't act like Christians but that if you were to take a picture you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a person at Sonshine and a person at a regular high school. But the cool thing is, is that most all the people at Sonshine were Christians.

       Many times when we witness to others we decide who we're going to talk to by the people they hang out with, by the clothes they wear, and by how people say they act. We judge people. We say, "this person could never believe in Jesus."
  

       Paul was a murderer, Moses was a murderer, David was just a boy, Matthew was a tax collector, Simon was just a fisherman, and Jesus was homeless. If people in their times were to judge them, the stories in the Bible would of been totally different.

       We need to accept everyone. No matter who they are and no matter what they've done, God loves them just the same. We need to do the same.
  

  This week I want each of you to do two things:

  1. I want you to stop yourself when you judge others. Become aware of when and who you judge. Then act on it. Ask God to help you stop judging others. Ask for open mindedness when it comes to the people around you.
  2. Witness to someone who is "out there". Someone who you usually wouldn't want to talk to about Jesus. Ask God for guidance when you choose this person. Then ask for God to give you the right words to say, and He will.

      Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. - Luke 6:37
  
  Have a good week everybody.
  
  in His grasp,
        JD

  • 5:31 PM
  • 2 Views
  • 0 eProps
  • 0 Comments