1Corinthians 4:5 "Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God."
Oh dear God. Please give me your power so I may live this out fully.
This verse that speaks boldly to judgment is quite a convicting one dear bloggies. I think of Christ washing the disciples feet in a complete display of humility and I am reminded that Judas, the one who would soon after hand betray Jesus and deliver him to His enemies, was one of those disciples whose feet Jesus washed. He could have taken that time to stop at Judas and tell everyone how wicked the heart of this disciple was and rebuke him (rightly so) of his deceit and pride. No. That is not the God I serve. Jesus took the feet of Judas and washed them clean along with the other disciples. He made Himself so low on this earth. Born in rags and died in rags. Beaten until his skin was gone on his back, dragged, thorns driven into his scalp, nails driven into his WRISTS.
I know we often hear of hands but the crucifixion was a tradition of killing someone in which they were sure to die in humility. They would actually pierce through the wrists, which we all know, is where many important veins are and many have commited suicide this way.
This same God asks me not to judge. I know I fall short in this area and I can only pray to have the same grace that brings me to humility and the richness of the humble life.
In the Corinthian church believers were becoming 1Cor 3:4 worldly. They had began to break in factitious circles claiming who they followed. Some boasted in Apollos, some in Paul some in Cephas. But their boasting came purely from the focus of MAN. It is relevant today within church as well. Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, Lutheran... These are a lot of the titles that believers hold in their head forgetting that 1Corinthians 3:23 "[...] you are of Christ, and Christ is of God."
I know. Kind of shatters that attachment you may have to YOUR pastor, YOUR church and YOUR denomination. Even further in the way YOU study the bible, the commentary YOU READ, the translation that everyone in Your congregation uses. The truth is the scripture is what we should all be living in not our church. That is only the place that we gather together to praise God as a body. We are the church. Me sitting here at my computer reading my bible and writing my thought THIS is Church. Our bodies are the temples that God should dwell not only at our home Church. I know we can distance ourselves from God easily but this is important to remember because otherwise where does our faith really rest?
God isn't a denomination. He is GOD almighty. He will not judge based on our Church of attendance on earth He will look directly at our hearts. He doesn't look upon any part of the bride and say the feet are best or the hands or the face. He looks at us children of His kingdom equally favoring none more than the other. And this is what He is addressing in His word. How can we say we are the body of Christ when we turn our noses or faces away from our brothers and sisters gathering in another city or judge the brother next to us with a tattoo of Scripture on his arm or the sister next to us who is not convicted in the ways that Christ is convicting us? The new covenant, the new promise this NEW TESTAMENT is the reason we are able to call God our King. Remember that the Old Testament, the old covenant and the OLD PROMISE was the one that God established to point us to Him. To Christ. The messiah who would come. But instead, the Jews of those days became religious. They looked only at the outside. They did not love. They did not praise God. They had forgotten who God was and turned Him into a reason to judge. A reason to hate and treat others poorly. This covenant was one they broke because their hearts were far from God. And today we live by the grace of God in FAITH not in the LAW.
We are a divided body today. I see in on TV. I witness it in community. And I understand that it is the result of me looking at me.Thankfully grace is covering us today as it has all along. I just exhort you, along with myself, to make sure that our boasting is strictly in the LORD because when we look at ourselves we see others in light of ourselves and judgment, no matter how minor, shall always be waiting to be rendered when we are seeing through those fleshy eyes.
I am a child of GOD. (This is excluding the cults that claim to know Jesus but deny everything He claimed he was) I have no reason to judge my brother of faith. God has called me in His love and mercy and I am to love Him fully and lean completely on Him. Not on who my pastor is or what church I am going to. The spirit is the one who guides us not ourselves. I love this verse simply because it is talking directly to me in so many ways.
I pray we would like Paul be children of God and nothing more. Realizing just how much we have gained in this supernatural adoption and just how much we do not by any comprehensible means deserve it. I pray for the Lord to break me of my attachments to the things and people of this world. I know that I am weak GOD still you love me and you use me. Thank you so much for that. May the women and men who claim to know you be lovers of the TRUTH and 1Corinthians 4:6 [...] not go beyond what is written." We are yours.
1Corinthians 4:7 "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?"
♥ CheChe ♥
P.S. Sorry for the late night I make no sense really posts these last two days. I haven't had much time during the day to write. I have a wedding I get to attend tomorrow at 3 and am soooo excited :). I pray God blesses you no matter how much you doubt He can. I pray that if you don't know Jesus you would encounter Him. I pray for an experience like no other and for Christ, God, The messiah to show you REAL LOVE. Once you have tasted Christ life becomes full and beautiful. I love you God.
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