Thou shall not judge

We wrapped up our dirty laundry series this past week. I hope it was encouraging to all and a good reminder to think before we speak. Sunday we talked about judging. Two things to remember about judging:

1. God holds me accountable when I judge- Romans 2 and Matthew 7:1 tells us that the measure we judge will be the measure that comes back to us. OUCH!

2. When I am tempted to judge, I will show mercy instead of judgment- The women caught in adultery is a great example. The Pharisees were ready to stone her on the spot but Jesus stopped them in their tracks by telling them if any one of them were without sin to go ahead and cast the first stone. Problem was, no one could do it. Mercy had been showed to them and now it was their turn to show mercy.

One more thought: Why is it that Christians easily put people on a pedestal but when someone messes up, we easily throw them down and allow them to be run over by a bus? Shouldn't our first response be mercy and forgiveness? I'm so glad that God has shown me mercy time and time again. Jesus Christ came to give us mercy. I'm not excusing sin by no means but by God's standards, we all have sinned. Over the years we have ranked some sins higher then others but in God's eyes it is all sin. Let us leave the judging to God and let our response be prayer and mercy.