Don't Judge, Because We Stink At It (by Assoc. Pastor Linda Pugsley)

We have previously taught on five ways that God uses problems:
• To DIRECT you
• To INSPECT you
• To CORRECT you
• To PROTECT you
• To PERFECT you

So expect problems…just don’t judge others while they are in them…we really stink at it!

Religious people in Jesus’ day often judged Him and His disciples. But look how He answered them in the following scriptures…with wisdom and justice. That is our example…not hatred or demeaning or rejection.

Mt 9: 11-12, "And when the Pharisees saw this they said to His disciples, 'why is your Teacher eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners?' But when He heard this, He said, 'it is not those who are healthy who need a physician but those who are sick.'"

Mt 12:1-8 – "At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grain fields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, 'Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.' But He said to them, Have you not read what David did, when he became hungry, he and his companions; how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent? But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, "I desire compassion and not a sacrifice", you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.'"

Oswald Chambers said, “The Lord said, ‘Come to Me’, not ‘do this or don’t do that…but come to Me’. If you will simply come to Jesus, your real life will be brought into harmony with your real desires. You will actually cease from sin, and will find the song of the Lord beginning in your life. If you really want to experience ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus.

You have to let go of everything and deliberately commit it all to Him… ‘and I will give you rest…that is, I will sustain you.’ He is NOT saying, ‘I will put you to bed, hold your hand and sing you to sleep.’ Rather He is saying He will get us out of bed in our half-dead condition to give us majestic vitality and the power of the Son of God within.”

John 15:11 – "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

It’s NOT about a bunch of rules and legalism…it’s for freedom that He set us free. Freedom, not a free for all though!

So, don’t get caught up in evaluating and judging others…leave that to God.

YOU just come to Jesus and let Him take it from there…He’s REALLY good at what He does…and we’re not!

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NOW GO LIVE IT!