1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
Oh my Friends, how well we know the relevant words of Jesus on that subject! ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.’ (Mat.7:1-2) But do we follow it? Only conveniently; when it suits our purposes, when we are the ones being judged. Unfortunately though my people, our society falls amongst the most judgemental ever, though we profess to have an open, liberal policy. Yes, we’re very quick to judge others, through idle gossip, innuendo, outright lies and our wonderful new era of misinformation. I hope you detected the note of sarcasm there. (smile) Our technological advances in communication has spawned a vast network of invasive media, and though oftimes we only have the surface information, and we know it’s not the full story, or even if it’s the truth, we still plough ahead and make substantial judgements about other people on the basis of that incomplete, possibly erroneous info. And it wouldn’t be so bad if we just kept it to ourselves, but no, we have to tell it to all our cronies, who pass it on with their own embellishments, so by the time it get’s back to you, it’s completely changed. This cult of the celebrity that’s currently ruling our world is a perfect example. Paparazzi now lurk everywhere in the hope of catching some poor slob seen as a celebrity, off guard, so they can make a quick dollar and spread the woeful news around the world. And like a sop, we lap it up. But would we like to be treated in the same manner? Certainly not! What’s good for the goose here, is definitely not so for the gander. Oh Friends, tendencies like that sadly undermine our Christian principles and show us to be real hypocrites. We can’t be one minute gossiping, spreading uncertain info, then next minute be beating our chests, proclaiming we’re such staunch followers of Christ. It’s that kind of behaviour that turns off unbelievers. And even worse, sometimes we’re also guilty of the same things we harshly criticize others for. But there are always good reasons and excuses for our behaviour, though we conveniently forget that others might have good reasons too. As they say, you can’t really judge me until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, since you don’t know if my shoes are too big, too small, too wide, too narrow or have no sole at all, but each of these conditions will dictate how I walk. That’s why Bruh Paul is exhorting us ‘to judge nothing before the time until the Lord come.’ He himself suffered similar trials and judgements, especially when he turned from persecutor to apostle. It took some time before other Christians trusted him or his motives. ‘Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgement: yea, I judge not mine own self…but he that judgeth me is the Lord.’ (1 Cor.4:2-4) Yeh Friends, Bruh Paul couldn’t care less if, how or when man judged him. His only true and rightful judge was the Lord. In light of all this, I’m asking us to ramp down the harshly critical attitude we have in our current society, for our own sakes, because when the Lord comes, ‘who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness…’ Meaning everything done or hidden in the darkness will be brought to light. Jesus warned; ‘Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.’ (Mat.10:26) Yes my brethren, all our evil deeds will be brought to light then too, so unless we don’t have any, we’d better not be too quick to judge others. And not only will the hidden deeds be revealed, but Jesus also ‘will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.’ Wow! What a day that will be my people, when the true motives of our hearts are revealed. For ‘Everyman’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.’ (1 Cor.3:13) What a bam bam mih Friends! For none of us have perfect motives. And if our work survives the trial by fire, then we’ll be rewarded. But if not, the work will be lost, but we’ll be saved through the same fire. (1 Cor.3:14-15) That’s because Jesus Christ is the only foundation worth building our lives, our hopes and dreams on. Then my Friends, ‘then shall every man have praise of God.’ Whatever praise we deserve, we’ll have of Jesus on that judgement day my people. So the moral of the story is simply to live as Christ-like as humanly possible; do good deeds through a pure, righteous, kind and LOVING heart, and don’t be overly critical of the faults and mistakes of others, keeping in mind that at the judgement call, all will be revealed, including our evil deeds, and we don’t want out work to perish in the fire, but withstand it, like Daniel and his buddies, thereby bringing generous praise and rewards from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So let’s turn down the criticism nuh, instead pray for those whom we think are doing wrong, improve the rightness of our hearts, and go out there and be worthy messengers and servants of Christ. That’s all He asks of us. Much LOVE!…check out the beam in our eyes…before we see the speck in others’…
Oh my Friends, how well we know the relevant words of Jesus on that subject! ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.’ (Mat.7:1-2) But do we follow it? Only conveniently; when it suits our purposes, when we are the ones being judged. Unfortunately though my people, our society falls amongst the most judgemental ever, though we profess to have an open, liberal policy. Yes, we’re very quick to judge others, through idle gossip, innuendo, outright lies and our wonderful new era of misinformation. I hope you detected the note of sarcasm there. (smile) Our technological advances in communication has spawned a vast network of invasive media, and though oftimes we only have the surface information, and we know it’s not the full story, or even if it’s the truth, we still plough ahead and make substantial judgements about other people on the basis of that incomplete, possibly erroneous info. And it wouldn’t be so bad if we just kept it to ourselves, but no, we have to tell it to all our cronies, who pass it on with their own embellishments, so by the time it get’s back to you, it’s completely changed. This cult of the celebrity that’s currently ruling our world is a perfect example. Paparazzi now lurk everywhere in the hope of catching some poor slob seen as a celebrity, off guard, so they can make a quick dollar and spread the woeful news around the world. And like a sop, we lap it up. But would we like to be treated in the same manner? Certainly not! What’s good for the goose here, is definitely not so for the gander. Oh Friends, tendencies like that sadly undermine our Christian principles and show us to be real hypocrites. We can’t be one minute gossiping, spreading uncertain info, then next minute be beating our chests, proclaiming we’re such staunch followers of Christ. It’s that kind of behaviour that turns off unbelievers. And even worse, sometimes we’re also guilty of the same things we harshly criticize others for. But there are always good reasons and excuses for our behaviour, though we conveniently forget that others might have good reasons too. As they say, you can’t really judge me until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, since you don’t know if my shoes are too big, too small, too wide, too narrow or have no sole at all, but each of these conditions will dictate how I walk. That’s why Bruh Paul is exhorting us ‘to judge nothing before the time until the Lord come.’ He himself suffered similar trials and judgements, especially when he turned from persecutor to apostle. It took some time before other Christians trusted him or his motives. ‘Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgement: yea, I judge not mine own self…but he that judgeth me is the Lord.’ (1 Cor.4:2-4) Yeh Friends, Bruh Paul couldn’t care less if, how or when man judged him. His only true and rightful judge was the Lord. In light of all this, I’m asking us to ramp down the harshly critical attitude we have in our current society, for our own sakes, because when the Lord comes, ‘who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness…’ Meaning everything done or hidden in the darkness will be brought to light. Jesus warned; ‘Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.’ (Mat.10:26) Yes my brethren, all our evil deeds will be brought to light then too, so unless we don’t have any, we’d better not be too quick to judge others. And not only will the hidden deeds be revealed, but Jesus also ‘will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.’ Wow! What a day that will be my people, when the true motives of our hearts are revealed. For ‘Everyman’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.’ (1 Cor.3:13) What a bam bam mih Friends! For none of us have perfect motives. And if our work survives the trial by fire, then we’ll be rewarded. But if not, the work will be lost, but we’ll be saved through the same fire. (1 Cor.3:14-15) That’s because Jesus Christ is the only foundation worth building our lives, our hopes and dreams on. Then my Friends, ‘then shall every man have praise of God.’ Whatever praise we deserve, we’ll have of Jesus on that judgement day my people. So the moral of the story is simply to live as Christ-like as humanly possible; do good deeds through a pure, righteous, kind and LOVING heart, and don’t be overly critical of the faults and mistakes of others, keeping in mind that at the judgement call, all will be revealed, including our evil deeds, and we don’t want out work to perish in the fire, but withstand it, like Daniel and his buddies, thereby bringing generous praise and rewards from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So let’s turn down the criticism nuh, instead pray for those whom we think are doing wrong, improve the rightness of our hearts, and go out there and be worthy messengers and servants of Christ. That’s all He asks of us. Much LOVE!…check out the beam in our eyes…before we see the speck in others’…
SCRIP-BITS 