Have you noticed how much easier it is to condemn others for their actions than to condemn ourselves, and our own actions? Too often, we become critics of everyone around us – judging the way they live their lives, the words they say, the things they do – critics of everyone except ourselves. For this particular sin, a trap we all probably fall into from time to time, Romans 2 really hits hard. Paul over-emphasizes repeatedly that wrong is always wrong, and sin is always sin, no matter who does it, no matter your intentions or your justification. Yes, our God is a loving God, forgiving and merciful forever and always. But our God is also a just God, and He will judge each and every person accordingly. As Romans 2:3-4 expresses, just because we serve a God who is kind, patient and forgiving does NOT mean that you can get away with any evil deed, continuing to live in unrighteousness relying only on the idea that all will be forgiven.
“Do you suppose, O man – you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself – that you will escape the judgement of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” Romans 2:3-4
God’s abounding love and kindness is not a means to live however we desire, it’s a call to repentance, because He so wants us to live with Him in eternity, and if we truly want it as well, we would not continue living in sin, but repent and grow and strive to reach the very highest of our potential. We would strive to be just the tiniest bit worthy of His love and mercy. Because in all God’s perfection and all our imperfection, we are utterly incompatible. And yet He still loves us and desires a relationship with us, a relationship that lasts for all eternity.
As we continue throughout this week, whenever we catch ourselves judging the actions of others, let us remember to instead look within ourselves. I pray that we may see through God’s eyes how we can improve and grow closer to who God made us to be, and ask forgiveness for our own sins, rather than judging the people around us for theirs. Let us obey the truth today for the sake of eternity, and not obey unrighteousness for the sake of today. “For those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury… but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good” (Romans 2:9-10).
-Isabella Osborn
(originally posted May 18, 2022 for SeekGrowLove)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
If God has instilled in us a conscience, allowing us to discern right from wrong, (which according to Romans 2:15, He has) then why do we persistently live in sin?
How should we move forward after acting in an unrighteous, ungodly manner, in order to continue seeking everlasting life with God- living for Him and not for ourselves?
This week many are gathering for a week of FUEL – a youth and young adult camp of the Church of God. Our theme for the week matches FUEL’s theme of Peter and our writers this week will all be participants and staff at FUEL. Have a great week seeking God, growing faith and loving more and more!
The past few weeks, I have been thinking about this a lot. We are so quick to cast stones when someone hurts us, or we find something out about someone that we think is wrong or sinful. I have seen this in myself recently. I have been quick to judge people when I don’t agree with their opinions or beliefs. I was very excited to have an opportunity to write about Luke 5. The story about Jesus choosing his first disciples has always been one of my favorites. But I never took the time to read deeper into it.
Luke 5: 31
Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
In this verse, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who are watching Jesus have dinner with tax collectors and sinners. In this time, it was crazy and unheard of to associate with these types of people, because they were considered unclean. But Jesus responds and says it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the SICK.
We are to have the same attitude as Jesus and realize that we ourselves are sick. We have all at one time sinned. Jesus has come and brought us, the sick, out of our sickness so that we can do the same for others.
He shows the same act in Luke 5:8-11
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful Man!” For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon, “From now on you will be catching people.” Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.
Jesus called to the lost. He went to the darkest places to reach people and has instructed us to do the same.
It is hard to reach out to people sometimes. Especially when we know their past. But how can we judge someone, when Jesus comes to us and says, “You are forgiven.” It says in James 2:10
“For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.”
We all know that we have sinned before, we are all sinners, but Jesus calls us – to love each other, and show everyone who HE truly is, WASH THEIR FEET.
Wash the sinner’s feet. Love them and serve people as Jesus would serve. We are all sinners, no matter what it may be, we have all fallen short somewhere.
Jesus washes the feet of his disciples in John 13:1-5. He is free of sin, and yet he washes their feet. In this time, washing of someone’s feet was an act of service. Jesus was willing to serve everyone no matter who they were. We are called to do the same.
It is easy to judge and to say, well I couldn’t do that for this person because… (You fill in the blank). I have done it. I have judged people whether that be at work, or even when I was in school. I have judged and said, “Well that person is too far gone. There’s no way I could forgive them.” But the truth is, that everyone deserves Christ’s love. We are called to be free of judgement and full of love and forgiveness.
You can’t wash feet and throw stones. We can’t do both.
Instead choose to wash the feet of everyone you can, not literally, but be kind and show them Christ’s love.
-Hannah Eldred
Reflection Questions
When have you judged someone else and believed them to be too sick (in their sins) for Jesus to cure? How have you been proved wrong? What examples from the Bible and people you know prove that Jesus heals sinners and changes lives?
Jesus called Peter to catch people not fish. What is Jesus calling you to do? What might you have to leave behind (as Peter left behind his fishing boats and nets)?
How can you – will you – show others the love of Christ this week?
Ezra Introduction
The book of Ezra was written by a man named Ezra who was a Godly scribe and priest – a direct descendant of Aaron the first high priest. The book starts with the decree of the Persian King Cyrus proclaiming the Israelites could return to Jerusalem and build a temple for God. This was prophesied in Jeremiah 25:12; 29:10; 50:1-5; and Isaiah 44:28-45:5,13.
The first half of Ezra details the people who returned, and then describes the fits and starts of building the temple, along with the stiff opposition to building that temple. (It took 23 years to rebuild the temple.)
Once the temple was built, the Israelites needed priests to perform sacrifices and teach God’s laws to the people. It was at this time that Ezra went from Babylon to Jerusalem in a second wave of returning exiles along with priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants.
I love the description of Ezra found in 7:10, “Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.”
We see a glimpse of his faith in Ezra 8:21-23, “There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”
The second half of the book talks about addressing the sin in Israel, culminating in people’s confession of their sins and their pledge to live according to God’s laws.
I’ll close with Ezra 10:6, “… he [Ezra] ate no food and drank no water, because he continued to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.”
How often have you been this distressed over your own sins, let alone the sins of people who claim to follow God, or even the sins of our nation?
As we continue past the previous chapters of 1 Corinthians, that of leadership in the church and the nature of true apostleship, we enter a new section that is initially and seemingly unrelated to the current mood of Paul’s letter. It feels kind of awkward to talk about certain sins and topics, today’s being incest, because it is so obviously horrendous that it almost feels like a waste of breath to talk about. However, this negligence is precisely why we need to discuss such things, so that they do not become the normative culture. (As is seen with a plethora of “hot-button” issues the modern church has just accepted due to ignorant doctrine.) Additionally, as we’ll see with what Paul wrote, these topics are also excellent gateways for further understanding other applications of the word: true faith in action.
Paul begins by calling out the sin of incest between two members of the Corinthian church, fixating the blame on the man responsible, and seems to be most uproarious about how proud the offenders are in their sin. Verse 2 reads, “And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?” It appears as though, while the act of incest itself is an egregious sin, being boastful in it simply exacerbates its severity. This claim is supported by the next six verses and subsequent pseudo-parable. Verses 6-7 read, “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” A little yeast, the parabolic equivalence of humility (i.e., the absence of excessive boasting), is sufficient to make useful bread. Old yeast is to be thrown out, as it makes bad bread and is useful for nothing; just as we need not boast at all, Jesus is our supplement for humility. We are called not to boast in our accomplishment or our sins, but to attribute all that we have done that is good to God.
Returning to Paul’s initial command to extradite the man from the church, does that not seem antithetical to the accepting nature of faith? Perhaps upon an initial reading it may, but Paul acknowledges this and says in verses 9-11, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolator or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.” Paul is entirely aware that man is a sinful being, and that there was only one man to walk the earth who was blameless: Christ. Instead, in this passage, he makes the clarification that the people we are to not associate ourselves with are those who claim to be brothers and sisters in the faith, and STILL are boastful in their sin, unapologetic about their openly sinful life, perhaps even going as far as claiming that their actions are biblically justifiable. These are the people we are to lovingly rebuke, as they claim to live by the word and yet blatantly do not. So often, Christians are seen as judgmental toward outsiders. Unfortunately, this is not wholly unreasonable. Our issue is that we judge those who do not live by the law for not living by the law, while simultaneously turning a blind eye to those who CLAIM to live by the law and openly do not. Paul writes in verses 12 and 13, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked person from among you’.” Our responsibility is to spread the good news to those who do not have it, and to lovingly keep ourselves accountable.
-Mason Kiel
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Sin is sin. Why is there a difference between how we view, judge or treat various sinners?
Are you personally more apt to spread more judgment to those outside the church or load on the mercy to those inside than Paul would recommend? What is the danger in each of these?
What is the purpose of expelling a brother in sin?
What a year we have had… and that’s about all I am going to say on that
Diving into the chapters for today I am reminded how many good bits Paul has in these letters! Sometimes I envision Paul as a public speaker just because his words can pack such an impactful punch that makes me stop and go, “Woah.”
In all the great one-liners throughout these chapters I was made aware of one theme that Paul was trying to get the church in Corinth to understand. Ultimately, Paul was trying to get the church to look at themselves introspectively and fix their body of believers. 1 Corinthians 5:12 sums his idea up nicely as he writes “For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside?”
Here Paul is basically calling this church out for being self-righteous. He explains to them the difference in expectations for those who are called believers and those who are not (1 Corinthians 5:11; 7:15). Paul is not saying anything in these few chapters about how the church should be bringing outsiders to truth or spreading the Gospel (but don’t worry, that Good News message is coming later) because he knows that they will be ineffective in that area until they can rebuild and refocus their own body of believers.
When I look at our global Church today, I think we need to take this same introspective approach before we can be as effective in spreading the Word. While every individual church looks different, globally the Church has been struggling to balance the extremes of our world. Some churches are hateful and judgmental to those unlike them, while others celebrate and condone individual choices that directly go against what the Bible says is righteous. Both kinds of churches are ignoring the message from this particular passage; Show respect and love to all while keeping believers on the path of righteousness. It is as simple, and as complex, as that.
When you look at your own church, or even your own family, where do you see room for improvement within this message? Our world is hurting right now, and clearly in need of grace, hope, and redemption that Jesus offers. Are you in a position to show this same grace, hope, and message of redemption to outsiders? If you are, are you acting on that? And if not, what needs to happen for you to get to this place? I encourage you to take time today to consider where you stand on this area and ask God to show you where He wants you to be instead. I know for myself I always have room to grow.
I look forward to journeying through these letters with you over this next week! I am always struck by how much God can speak through these devotions, and I hope you are too.
-Sarah (Blanchard) Johnson
Today’s Bible reading passage can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – 1 Corinthians 5-8.
Okay, let me start by saying, it was SO hard deciding where to even start when I was writing today’s devotion. There is just so much meat in these two chapters, and I highly recommend that you set aside enough time today to really dig into these scriptures.
In today’s first chapter, John 7, we watch as Jesus instructs his disciples to go to the feast without him, because the Jews do not hate the disciples as they do Jesus. Eventually Jesus goes, but in secret. He went to the temple and began teaching, aware that if he were to make himself known to too many people, things wouldn’t end well. Which of course, in the long run, they didn’t – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. As Jesus said, his time had not yet fully come. This is one of the reasons he was often so discreet. He couldn’t yet draw too much attention to himself, because he knew that would almost immediately lead to his death. This is important to note because he was not done with his time on earth; he knew there was more to accomplish before fulfilling the prophecy. And so he did, showing as much love and kindness as possible, and bringing thousands and thousands of people into the light. (And in doing so, setting an example for us to do the same.)
We could, of course, continue to talk about this one chapter for days and days, however, there’s also a ton of good stuff worth addressing from the next chapter, John 8. This one’s actually jam-packed with wise words and food for thought… so let’s dive in.
The first little section in John 8 is the story of the adulterous woman, which is definitely a good one and can teach us a lot. However if you don’t know already, this story was not in early manuscripts of the book of John, and was likely not written by him. Regardless, the important take away of this story is that none of us have the right to judge another, for we all sin, and we all deserve forgiveness. What stood out to me most though, is that Jesus said “I do not condemn you, either. Go…” which of course is the point of the story, but then he said, “From now on sin no more.” We can’t forget this part in Jesus’ line of thinking. Yes, we can be forgiven, but that doesn’t mean just getting away with something and then going and doing it again. It’s also about repentance; turning yourself around and doing things different from there on out. That’s maybe the most important step: what you do after the fact.
In the next few sections of chapter 8, we’re walked through a series of conversations between Jesus and the Pharisees/Jews. Repeatedly, Jesus (humbly) says something authoritative, and repeatedly, the Pharisees have some illegitimate reason to disagree. Jesus describes himself in many ways over chapter 8: the Light, the Son, the Truth, etc. This is who he is, always, but it is in this chapter that these attributes resulted in so many people coming to believe in him, and so many people coming to hate him. What the Pharisees failed to understand was that Jesus truly did have authority over them. He is the Mediator between God and man. When he claims all these things about who he is, it’s not to glorify himself, it’s simply the truth, God’s truth. As the Son of God he speaks God’s truth, not on his own initiative, but as the Father teaches him (John 8:28).
Jesus has to repeat himself many times in chapter 8, because his audience is really not getting it. At one point he even asks, “Why are you not understanding what I am saying?” which I always imagine was said in slight exasperation. From this point on, he really begins spelling it out for them, and for us. In verses 38-47 Jesus refers to two fathers, ours and his. At first the Jews think he means their descendant, Abraham. He proceeds to tell them that if they were truly children of Abraham, they would be acting like Abraham, but they’re not. Then they try to refute this by saying, oh well actually no, God is our one Father. Jesus then replies with, well if God was your Father, you would love me, because He’s the one who sent me. Then he reveals that the father he was really referring to as theirs was the devil, which had to have stung, but should really make us think. Who are we allowing to lead our lives? As children of God, are we fully giving ourselves to Him- our Creator, our Potter, our Abba.
Lastly I want to quickly mention something about 8:58. Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am” (NASB). Many times trinitarians take this verse and try to claim that this means Jesus was around forever, making him one with God. However, it was really translated wrong, (as many verses are, due to the overwhelming amount of biased translators) and if translated correctly, would read something more like, “I am he,” or “I am the one,” which in this context, would just be referring to himself as the Messiah, existing not physically in Abraham’s time, or before, but in God’s plans for the world.
As you go through the rest of your week, pray that, being of God, you may hear the word of God, because followers of God WILL hear Him, and will know the truth (John 8:45-47), and the truth will set you free (John 8:32).
– Isabella Osborn
It’s a treat to hear from Isabella today. She is a wise and caring home-school student from South Carolina who loves loving God and others.
Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – John 7-8
Tomorrow we will read John 9:1-10:21 as we continue on our journey through God’s Word. Come follow along!
Have you ever asked yourself; “What are you storing up for yourself?” There will be a day of judgement concerning how each of us lived our lives. Did we store up incorruptible treasures in heaven as it says in Matthew 6:20 ““But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;” or have we stored up wrath determined by the righteous judgment of God as it says in Romans 2:5-6, “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”
We will all be judged and held accountable. It is so easy to judge others; almost without thinking, we label, categorize, and take measure of others. Oftentimes, people are cruel and harsh in their snap judgement of others. Maybe you nudge your friend when you are on line at a store and slyly point out the haircut that is out of style or the clothes that don’t fit right. Because of this, we can also fall into trying to please the whims of the world. We bend and yield our convictions to be liked and accepted. Perhaps we join in with verbal jabs or we enjoy the latest juicy gossip. With God, there is no partiality (Rom. 2:11). What does this mean? Partiality as defined by Merriam Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary says:
1 : an unfair tendency to treat one person, group, or thing better than another
2 : a tendency to like something or someone — often + to
As it says in the first definition, we have an unfair tendency to judge certain groups of people more favorably than others. God doesn’t do this. He can’t be bribed, bought, or persuaded from what is right and true. He sees us for what we are and judges us accordingly. He knows the secret depths of our hearts, even the parts we don’t want to admit are there. In light of this, we should recognize that what we do and how we live our lives, matters. What we watch and put into our hearts also matters.
Matthew 15:18
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
I grew up in New Jersey and moved to New York shortly after college. After Sean and I married, we moved to Georgia and attended the Atlanta Bible College. I had never been to the South for any length of time and was struck by how friendly everyone was. Cashiers would have full on conversations with people in line and they would take their time with each customer. I liked how friendly people were but found myself annoyed and impatient when their friendliness cut into my efficiency. Yet, when I went home to New Jersey and New York after being in Georgia for a while, I was startled by how quickly people would yell, honk, and gesture at one another. There was a harshness to the North that I had not noticed before. Regardless of where you’re from, God’s word teaches us how we should be. That is what we should put in our minds and what will consequentially come out of our mouths.
Guard your mind and keep your thoughts on the things that are above. Do not allow yourself to become a harsh critic of others but love and reserve the judging for God and our Lord Jesus Christ. While you still have breath and you are alive, ask for forgiveness for the times you have fallen short and sinned, and then start again with renewed vigor. The Bible says in Romans 2:8 that there is eternal life for those that persevere or persist in doing good seek after the glory and honor and immortality. Let’s encourage each other to persevere in doing good!
This chapter of Luke opens as such; with Jesus saying, “Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” Jesus often reserved his rebukes and warnings for the Pharisees who sought to undermine him, but here he warns his own followers about not just how they conduct themselves, but warns them about how their conduct is influencing those around them.
An easy way to compare this verse to real life is when a young child behaves badly in public. Often, you’ll hear those nearby make remarks condemning the parents of the child. Well, you could simply leave it at that and go on thinking that Jesus was condemning those who directly influence young ones to behave badly. Like most of Jesus’ teachings, however, it’s not that simple. He follows this line up directly with an analogy of a man who sees a speck of wood in his brother’s eye, but does not see the “plank” in his own.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, and so in keeping with the example of a misbehaving child, we should perhaps temper our own knee-jerk criticisms of people whom it is easy to scapegoat issues onto. Perhaps those commenting around the misbehaving child should ask themselves who they’re influencing, and what kind of example they’re setting when concern for someone’s child turns into gossip about their family. This seems to be Jesus’ point in relaying the analogy of the two brothers. On the one hand, he calls us to avoid setting a poor example, but on the other, he warns us against “witch-hunting” others whilst failing to examine ourselves.
Seek Grow Love 