God Question

Yes, another of those thought provoking, deep probing questions the Lord likes to throw at me from time to time.  As always, this was a lulu!! It brought quick conviction to my heart.

I was at work (my wonderful training ground, wilderness, Holy Spirit University...), and I was complaining in my head about a fellow worker, thoughts like,"oh, they just keep disappearing."  "So and so is not here working, helping like the rest of us." "What, another 45 minute break!!"  Things like that.  I am so not sure if I am supposed to put thoughts in quotation marks....guess I should have paid more attention in English class, huh?  LOL  Anyways, you can see nothing I was thinking was complimentary or kind.  And then God popped a little question in my head.  "How can you love people when you are thinking evil of them?"

Hmmmm.  Good question.  And the answer is I can't.  I can't show the love of the Lord, nor will I even want to when I am entertaining angry,  hateful, disparaging thoughts about another person. When I am focusing on all they are doing wrong (justified or not) I become filled with anger and malice.  I cannot connect with them, love them as Jesus loved me.  I do not care about them or want to share the Gospel with them, be a blessing to them.

Just because someone is not living up to "my standards" does not mean I get to sit in judgement of them.  "Judge not, and you shall not be judged.  Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."  Luke 6:37   If that verse alone is not enough to swear us off of judging and condemning others, I don't know what is.  I do not want the Lord to judge or condemn me the way I do others.  I want His forgiveness for my mistakes, which are many.

Gosh this is hard to live up to.  I know what the answer to this question is and I know where my thoughts should turn when I start going down this condemning road in my head.  But it's so easy to feel justified in my judgments!

Romans 5:8  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  

John 8:7  ...Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. 

Matthew 6:14-15  For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (perhaps holding grudges is not such a good idea.)

Romans 14:4  Who are you to judge another's servant?  To his own master he stands or falls.  Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Judgments against another person (right or wrong), cause my thoughts to be filled with animosity. When I am filled with animosity I am not walking in the Spirit and will not want to, nor will be able to share God's love with someone who needs it.  It is impossible to build a relationship with a person I am angry with.

So that was my question the Lord wanted answered.  And now I have to start cooperating with Him to change this thought pattern.  It's so easy for me to go with the flow, as it were in my mind.  And doesn't it feel so good, make us feel so superior and righteous when we can point to another and say "well I don't do that....or I am better than them."   Oh Lord forgive me!!  Drive this from my life!!