| “For none of us lives for ourselves alone…” |
| —Romans 14:7a |
We live in an age where criticism of others is almost a “sport of the realm.” Everywhere we turn people are judging each other harshly. What was once courteous discourse has turned into a nasty festival of name-calling.
Galatians 6 urges us to restore our sinful brothers and sisters gently, lest we fall into sin. So, harsh judgment has no place in the lives of believers, especially when dealing with other members of the family of God.
Sometimes we try to hide our own sinfulness by harshly criticizing others. Instead, we should be tenderly calling our brothers and sisters to confession, repentance, restitution, and reconciliation. But, we should do so only after we have humbly dealt with our own sins. The Apostle Paul offers these challenging words in Romans 14:7-10, 12-13:
For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord.
So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt?
For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
Let’s begin this new day by allowing God’s grace to so permeate our minds and hearts that we look at each other only through God’s eyes of love. When we see some behavior in our brothers and sisters in Christ with which we don’t agree, before we jump to harshly criticize, let’s make certain we have first properly dealt with our own pet sins. Then, and only then, we should gently, tenderly, and with hearts filled with God-breathed love, approach our brothers and sisters with words that will encourage them to reconsider their behavior.
Based on a post from Monday, March 9, 2015
