One of Judge Judy's favorite quotes is "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves" and that quote often fits the church today. We (the entire church) have been guilty of misusing the scripture found in I Peter 4:17 that says, "For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God's household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God's Good News?" We often say or believe that the church is the one here that has the right to judge, but that's not at all what this scripture is saying. This scripture is really saying that God's judgment always begins with His family and in His church. There are so many preachers and church members that are guilty of holding the gavel and executing judgment on the rest of the world while at the same time allowing all kinds of things into their personal lives without anyone knowing about it. "We ought to be ashamed of ourselves" At what point did God make us His Prosecutor and ask us to go after all the "Bad People?" If I sound a little frustrated, it's because I am! I feel we work so hard to help, encourage and assist young believers so they can grow up in the Lord with a healthy "fear" of God and not one that has them looking over their shoulders every time they mess up and fall short, only to have some "self-righteous, spiritual ego-maniac, holier than thou" to try and tear down in 2 sentences what we have worked for days, weeks and months to build up! I feel to some degree, the church has left it's first love and lost it's true message...FORGIVENESS! It's begun to swing the gavel and act like it has the right to judge others when in all actuality, we should only be judging ourselves. Jesus said in Matthew 23:25 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy--full of greed and self-indulgence!" When we become too "Religious" for our own good, we often cease judging ourselves and only look for "prey" to pounce upon - and the judging begins. We the church, need to spend more time cleaning up our own lives and less time trying to fix the lives of everyone we deem "messed up." Luke 6:37 says "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven:" This is truly where the church needs to be today...Forgiving!
Let's not be guilty of being "Judge Church" by judging others, but rather do everything we can to help them solve their spiritual "case."
Let's not be guilty of being "Judge Church" by judging others, but rather do everything we can to help them solve their spiritual "case."
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