Luke 18: 9-14 "Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Despise no one! Despise no one!! Despise no one!!!
Jesus is our perfect example and teacher. Jesus is God Himself. A man is and will always be "MAN." Man is subject to error but God is perfect as Jesus is Perfect.
We can learn lessons for a life-time from the parables of Jesus.
Yes, we are the righteousness of God in Christ but that does not and will never give us the right to despise or condemn others.
John 3:16-21 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
A lot of times, we cross the lines between despising/condemning sin and despising/condemning the sinner. We must LOVE the sinner even as we despise and condemn sin in its entirety. It is that love we have for sinners that makes us reach out to them even as we help them and help ourselves to overcome sin and reject darkness. That is God's nature and we are God's creation in His image and likeness so we dare not hate the sinner and we dare not love sin.
However, the lines need to be clearly defined so we don't find ourselves like the Pharisee that trusted in his righteousness and despised others.
2 comments:
If we all can get to the point we know that the slightest judgement we make will be accounted for, good measure pressed down.....its not easy especially since we all view stuff from different povs, but we can work towards being more gracious to one another. Thanks again
Honestly it is easier to see the speck and ignore the log especially when the log is yours or your favorites'.
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