A word I have been thinking alot about lately is "condemnation". I have been hearing and reading a lot of people condemning others especially with all the news about the Ashley Madison and Josh Duggar scandals.
But I have to wonder. Are we any better than them? Before you reply with a yes just ponder with me for a moment........
When was the last time you told a lie
or untruth to make yourself look good?
Or when was the last time a friend, a
social event,money, etc. was higher
priority over time with God or the
Bible? (Dieteronomy 5:7 says thou
shalt have no god before me)
Or when was the last time you said a
curse word when you were mad or
in a conversation? (Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain)
These are just a few examples. You may think that's not as bad as committing adultery or sexually abusing girls. But, God doesn't have a sin scale one isn't worse than the other. They are all sin and God looks at sin as an abomination to his Holy word and the standard He has set for us as Christians.
In 1 John 3:15 (New Living Translation)
"Anyone who hates his brother is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them.
{This gives a very good view of how God looks at sin. He takes it very seriously. And we should too.
One story in the Bible that comes to mind is in John 8:1-11 New Living Translation
A Woman Caught in Adultery
1Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.”
Looking at this passage Jesus told them that any among them that was without sin should throw the first stone. None of them could because as Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" all of us are sinners. Not some worse than others just sinners, and Jesus came to this earth to die for all of us not just the really bad people.
Some may look at this and say well that's hopeless I'll never make it into heaven. That is where the grace of God comes in. If you are truly repented of your sins and asked for forgiveness and are trying to follow God with your whole heart and are obeying his commandments then by grace are you saved.
It's not because we deserve it or anything we have done. It is because God loved us enough to send his only son to die so that we might be saved. Yes, we will mess up and make mistakes, we are human. If we are willing to admit we were wrong and ask God for forgiveness then we can enter into the kingdom of heaven.
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
God has set the standard for us to live by. Not to constrict us or to be mean. But because he is a God of order and he wants his children to live that way as well. And his greatest desire is for all his people to live with him in heaven one day!!
Well these are my thoughts right now. And I hope they made sense. My greatest burden in sharing these thoughts with you is that people may realize that yes, we as Christians make mistakes and yes, we are held to a higher standard ,but please before you judge others too harshly look at your life first.
May God richly bless you,
~Rose Mary
