"Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."" John 8:1-11
The other morning I woke up at about 5:30am, sweated and wide awake because of a dream I had. I'm not going to share my dream, but I just knew, that I had to share the message of my dream.
This summer God has been bringing a lot of things to mind through conversations with other people, and one of those is how in Christianity, we are so quick to judge others. We think that we know what is best for people so often, especially when heavily involved in people's lives. We see people making, what seems to us, really terrible decisions, and sometimes they may be, but we judge them for that and we complain about how this person could make that mistake, or act like that, or do that thing. I am so guilty of this. We all are.
What I am seeing this kind of thinking and attitude creating, is this attitude of pride. That I am better than you. That I make better decisions than you. I am more spiritual than you. I know what is best, I know what you should do. And sometimes, those things may be true...but it is our attitude behind those thoughts, where the issue lies. Where our sin is. We are so quick to judge others for the way they are living their lives. We are lacking trust in God that says that He knows best, that He is working everything out for the good of those who love Him, that He will deal with injustice, He will deal with other people's sin.
I currently have the privilege of being in Northern Ireland, with the people I first fell in love with and where ministry life truly started for me. One thing that I am just loving and seeing is how much God truly keeps His children. He doesn't need us. He is more than capable of leading people to Him without us. He's been doing this much longer than we have. All we have to do, is seek Him ourselves, and as we walk with Him, we disciple, lead people to Him, not to ourselves.
So I ask you, follower of Jesus Christ, brother, sister, read John 8:1-11. Next time you think someone is making a wrong decision, Look at your own sin first. Love them through whatever their life looks like. Speak God words, truth, wisdom, not jealousy, not pride, but have love, grace and mercy. Be fruitful. Be like Jesus.
Grace and Peace brethren. ❤️
