Guilty as Charged

From Despair.com

Don't Judge Me: Part 1 of 4

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” This phrase, spoken by Jesus in Matthew 7:1, seems to be thrown around quite a bit in Christian circles. Here, Jesus is making a case against the hypocrite who tries to “remove the speck” from his brother’s eye, without seeing the “beam” in his own. Jesus warns that “by the standard you judge you will be judged”, thus taking away some of the gusto with which we so gleefully condemn our own friends.

So what’s the big deal with judging, anyway? What does it mean to judge someone? In what manner should we judge those around us? Should we even be judging those around us? Before I offer an answer to the above questions, I'd like to take a look at a passage in James.

James 4:11-12 says,
"Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the laws. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. (12) But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge - the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor?"

James begins this section with an imperative - "Do not speak against one another." He quickly expands this thought into the idea of one who "speaks against" and "judges" a fellow believer. James then goes on to list several reasons as to why this passing of judgment isn't such a good idea.

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Part two of this series will take a look at the reasons James lists as to why we are not to "speak against one another".

Night Light Reading

If you're in need of a good read-a-short-chapter-once-a-day-before-I-doze-off-to-sleep book, you've come to the right place. I have read this book three times, and it truly is a great read. It was originally published in 2004 as "The Passion of Jesus Christ", it was then re-published in 2006 under the title, "50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die". This book by John Piper is intellectually/spiritually stimulating regardless of how long you've been a Christian (or even if Christ means nothing to you).

Every chapter presents a reason why Christ came to die (...to absorb the wrath of God; ...to secure our resurrection from the dead; ...to show that the worst evil is meant by God for good), is only two pages long, and includes one or more scripture passages followed by an insightful commentary.

Here is an excerpt from chapter 28 entitled, "Christ suffered and died...to free us from the futility of our ancestry."

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"You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited form your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

I Peter 1:18-19

Secular people in the West, and more primitive people in animistic tribes, have this in common: They believe in the power of ancestral bondage. They call it by different names. Animistic people may speak in terms of ancestral spirits and the transmission of curses. Secular people may speak of genetic influence or the wounding of abusive, codependent, emotionally distant parents. In both cases there is a sense of fatalism that we are bound to live with the curse or the wounds from our ancestry. The future seems futile and void of happiness....

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Here's Your Sign

I spent a rather significant portion of time on the road this past week (27 hours to be exact), and I noticed two very interesting, and very different, road signs.

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Each of these diamond-shaped metal things with writing on them is trying to warn us of the danger of icy roads, but they each do it in very different ways. The sign on the right might as well have a big flashing sign that says, "We think you are a complete moron." Are we supposed to watch for ice even if the chance of precipitation is 0% and it's 110 degrees outside? I feel dumber for just reading the sign, like I'm being spoon fed by Big Brother on how to drive. The sign on the left is more explanatory, and at least treats me like my elevator reaches the top floor. It forces me to use my brain, observe the weather conditions, and determine the possiblity that the bridges might be icy - even if the road isn't. The sign on the left offers me information I can use later on, while the sign on the right simply beats me over the head with a rule which may or may not come in handy. Ever heard the old expression, "Give a man a fish, you've fed him for a day; teach a man to fish, you've fed him for a lifetime." - that's kind of how I feel after pondering these two road signs.
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So...if you've ever wondered what I think about while trapped in a car for an entire day, you can sleep at nights now.

Change Has Come Today

“Some things never change.” Usually this phrase is accompanied with a knowing chuckle after crazy Uncle Bob tells that same joke, or exhibits that all-too-familiar idiosyncrasy for the hundredth time. All joking aside however, do people change? Or, perhaps more importantly, can people change? Before you get married, people will tell you, “You can’t assume that your spouse is going to change. You have to be willing to marry them, warts and all!”

A couple of months ago, I heard a radio host say something like, “I used to think I could change people…I don’t think that anymore. I don’t try to change people, because, you are what you are. “ The latter part of that quote is rather bold - “You are what you are.” Convert it to first person and you get, “I am what I am.” Seems like somebody said that once…and it wasn’t crazy Uncle Bob. (Hint: It was God - Exodus 3:14)

You see, I’ve got to believe that people can change. If I didn’t, I'd go crazy. It’s that hope, the hope for transformed lives through Christ, that keeps me moving forward.