Find The Gold In People (Replay)

Find The Gold In PeopleRomans 2:1-4 “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”We spent a lot of time in class discussing this topic of judging others and calling out other people's sins last night, and it was such a great conversation. I wanted to share the idea with all of you as well. We all know we shouldn’t judge others. Did you know the extent to which you judge others is the extent to which God will judge you? For me, finding that our, taking a minute to let that sink in, was a game changer for me. If I expect perfection from others and don’t cut anyone any slack, will God do the same? I don’t know if that is precisely how it works, but that was enough for me to double down on my efforts not to judge. I know I am not perfect. I know I have many flaws. I know I need God to be very gracious with me, which means I must be gracious with others. To me, that seems like a small trade-off. If I am gracious with others here on earth, how does that hurt me? It may be inconvenient. I may have to be nice to those I don’t like, and I may have to put up with annoyances. I may have to watch them make bad choices and not judge them for it. However, if you compare that to the alternative, it doesn’t compare. If you compare those inconveniences to what might happen if God judged me the way I was judging others, I would suffer a lot more than inconveniences after I leave Earth. I want to spend eternity with my heavenly father. Our time in this world is limited when we compare it to eternity. Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Is it hard not to judge others? Yes. It is worth it in the end, absolutely. When I talk about judging others, most of you are probably thinking about how we judge strangers. How we judge those we see on the streets, or in the grocery stores, maybe even those at work. Those we judge when there is really no reason to judge. We might judge someone’s outfit or their decisions, but they don’t affect us. Our judgment does not really affect them. However, what about when we view our judgment as necessary? For instance, we all want our children, siblings, or family members to be successful. We want them to have a good life. When we worry they are headed down the wrong path, we feel it is our job to correct their course. We are only trying to help them be more responsible, be healthier, be whatever it is we think they should be. Sometimes, if our children, our loved ones, or our friends are doing something that we know is a sin, we feel as though it is our duty to tell them. We feel we are helping them to their salvation if we call out their sin. We are only trying to help. I get it, and yet, are we really helping?In class, we took a look at how Jesus dealt with sin in the Bible. Sometimes, he did call it out, but only if needed and only with love. For instance, the woman at the well, He let her know that she was living with a man who was not her husband, but he never once made her feel ashamed for it. He was letting her know that He saw her, He knew her, all of her, and yet still loved her. The woman caught in adultery, he didn’t scold her, he didn’t tell her she needed to get her life together, he didn’t lecture her on why what she was doing was wrong. He showed her kindness, He saved her life, and he told her to sin no more. What about Luke 19:1-10? Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector who wanted to see Jesus. Jesus called out to Zacchaeus and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” The scripture says others around were muttering that the Lord would dare to eat with a sinner. Jesus never called out all Zacchaaeus’ sins. He called him by his name, showing that He knew him, and then He showed love for Zacchaeus by going to his house for lunch. Then in Luke 19:8 it says, “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Why did Zacchaeus have a change of heart? Why did he change his ways? Why did the woman at the well change her ways? Both of them had a renewal of the mind through an encounter with the love of Jesus. Our goal in life, all of us, should be to lead people to ...