Judging With the Whole Truth

3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord and He will not judge what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His eyes hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. (Isaiah 11:3-4a)

 

Think back to a time where you were misunderstood by someone you cared about. If you can't think of one, maybe a time comes to mind where you were the judgmental one. How did the situation turn out?

 

Taken to the extreme, a misunderstanding between two people can end a relationship of any kind if both parties can't put all of the facts on the table and sort through them objectively to find the truth.

 

Its no wonder Jesus warns us to be careful of passing judgment on someone else's character or motives for doing the things they do. We seldom take the time in discussion to get all of the facts...and we get the judgment wrong.

 

Things with other people are not always as they appear. The whole truth is seldom out in the open.

 

With others, we are challenged by our impatience and blinded by our own perception of reality. Without due diligence, we interpret another's actions based upon our view of how the world works and then label what we see. Then...we assume we are right and dig our heels in for the fight.

 

Things don't have to be this way.

 

God doesn't want things to be this way, especially for those within the church. He says through His prophet Isaiah that the Judge Jesus will one day return to earth with perfect compassion, patience and discernment. In perfect righteousness and perception, Jesus will judge, seeing through the external sights and sounds, into the hearts of men. He will judge in perfect righteousness because He is able to see the whole truth.

 

Finally, all things will be as they should be, with no more tears or suffering caused by wrongful judgments.

 

Let's seek God together so we can see things as they really are. The people in our lives do not need Judge Janna or Judge ________<your name>. They need our love and our understanding. What will you do today to see things as they really are?

 

Do you have an experience to share? If so, leave a comment below.

LBY Week 6-Kindness & Goodness

I am sitting here in my home office, after all of the Mother's Day festivities, and after finishing this week's video that focused on "Goodness" from Galatians 5:22.  I can't describe what I'm feeling except to say that as the tears flow down my cheeks as I absorb what I've just heard, I know without a doubt that God has touched my heart in a mighty way.

A quick review of the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22) according to Beth Moore is as follows:

1. Love never fails.
2. Joy cometh.
3. Peace rules.
4. Patience waits.
5. Kindness tenders.
6. Goodness does.

Goodness does.   It was just a week ago that I mentioned to a good friend that I wanted my life back.  I didn't really mean it, but I was weary in all of my well-doing.  You see, my schedule for the past 13 days, outside of working 30 hours a week, included the following:

Retreat planning meeting & preparation: 3 hours
Women's ministry planning meeting & preparation: 3 hours
Small group bible study preparation: 3 hours
Adult ministries planning meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Database meeting: 2 hours
Ladies' Tea Preparations & Event: 3 hours
Other ministry stuff: 8 hours
Mothers' Day dinner for my family: 3 hours

I do a lot of doing, and I love the doing - this is not a complaint.  The above doesn't include time I'm spending reading another book for a leadership training program ("Called to Influence") that I'm taking a group through and the fact that I still must maintain my household & marriage. Goodness does. I didn't feel so "good" last week when I was complaining though.  Why, because I was disobeying God in feeling weary in the well-doing.

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.  Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.  (Galatians 6:9-10 NKJV).

I liked what Beth Moore pointed out regarding the word "weary" here.  She says "to become weary doing good means to give in to trouble; to become exasperated by difficulty, be defeated in spirit, discouraged, or faint-hearted; to despair, lose heart."  I thought it was interesting how she stated that the enemy (Satan) does everything he can to make us quit and then turns around and calls us "quitters"!  Satan doesn't respect us for our unbelief in God's promises because he knows God is believeable.  Wow.

Let's not be quitters no matter how tough the going gets so that we can have the last laugh on the wicked one.  Our sole purpose on this earth is to be a blessing to others.  We were called to benefit the world by imparting God's goodness.  And lo and behold, by doing good, we find the presription to heal our very own souls. 

Our "prescription", as Beth Moore pointed out that got to me so, was stated in Isaiah 58:6-11.  I'm not going to put the passage here, but I will quote the bullet points from our listening guide based on the passage:

If you spend yourselves (on doing good)....

• your light will rise in the darkness
• the Lord will guide you always
• your needs will be satisfied
• your frame will be strengthened
• you will be like well-watered gardens

Friends, today is the day, if we aren't doing it already, to start spending ourselves for the lives of other people.  Our world is a hurting world and we have the cure.   We are called to be people of influence for God's kingdom. 

Lord, thank You today for this water for my weary soul.  I thank You for picking me back up time and time again and filling me up so I can keep giving out.  I do know that doing good for You is a healing touch.  Your are truly my light, my strength, and my song.  Amen.

Addie	Heather*	Carol
M	Rach	Jeana
Jenn	Amanda	MamaB
GiBee	Boomama	Maria
Blair	Heather	Nancy
Janna	Flipflop	Robin
Sherry	Patricia	Tara
Lauren	HolyMama!	Faith
Christy	Eph2810	Karin
Leann	Rachel	Janice
This is a list of the women participating in the study and the links to their blogs. New postings on the study will be published for the next ten weeks, between Friday 8pm - Saturday 8am. Please feel free to visit each of us and comment. Everyone is welcome to participate in this discussion as we seek to live beyond ourselves. May God bless you richly from the hearing of His word.