Judging Things that Don't Matter

Next time someone wants to judge the choices of others through gossip to you, simply say, "God did not assign me to make a judgment about that."

 
There are many things that need no one else's judgment that are not sin.
Many people judge others as bad parents because of how their children turned out without being there to watch their upbringing. They assume parents must have done something wrong, but they have no details that prove it. Adult children make their own choices, often against the training of their parents.

 
David's son Absolum wanted to kill his own father. David was called the apple of God's eye, a man after God's own heart. The Bible does not tell us how David raised his son, so presuming would be gossip.

 
There is pride involved in judging the parenting of others based on a perception without facts. The only reason to make these kinds of judgments is to attempt to elevate oneself above others. There is no profit spiritually in judging the parenting of others only to appear superior.

 
Some would judge others for not attending the modern churches, as though attending those places is the way we are to gather, when the Bible teaches differently. It is not our place to judge how brothers and sisters choose to meet.

 
Judging how others choose to eat is another way to destroy relationships unnecessarily. I have seen a lot of this in my life. Food has been a "great divide" among believers these days because they are so fixated on this life and everything being as perfect as possible, they have lost sight that God provides the food and He is the judge.

 
Colossians 2:16-17 " 16 Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.…"

Romans 14:5-6 "One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God."

Galatians 4:9-10 "But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!"

I have seen people judge women as leading when they are merely sharing through the love of the Holy Spirit. They have judged that the women are usurping authority when they are a helper and asset to their husbands.

 
It has been my experience that often people judge something about us; they want us to be wrong about something because of their dislike or even hatred of us. Even gossiping about us to others so the others will dislike us too. Somehow, they think if they discredit us, that alone will elevate them to special status.
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Romans 14:1-4 "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions. For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him."

1 Corinthians 8:8 "But food does not bring us closer to God: We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do."

Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery."

It is not surprising that unbelievers, even the pretenders who attend churches, would want to ruin our walk and remove our influence by turning others against us. They did it with Christ, the apostles, and the prophets, and they will do it with us, too. Praise God when we can stand alone, ignore the idle chatter, and remain full of joy anyway.

 
Many actions in this life may be different from the way we do things, but it does not mean the different person is sinning in some way, or even wrong about their choices.

 
Sadly, I see this on steroids in social media with celebrities or high-ranking political figures. It is one thing to judge a person based on truth, what we can see, and what the celebrities have said publicly themselves; it is quite another to make guesses based on perceived outcomes.

Let's be sure when we judge it is according to God's Word and not our own prejudices. 

Seek Christ Alone

Do not allow the pressures of others to dictate your path.
Seek Christ Alone

Do not allow the pressures of others to dictate your path.

We are only responsible for giving the truth once; if they reject it, then we must walk away and leave all the results to God. We are not responsible for chasing after those who do not want to hear. And, we are not responsible for remaining friends with those who are not walking the same path we are walking. If someone comes back and wants to hear, then we will be ready for them.

When we have trusted in Christ, we do what He tells us to do and no more. Only His will is important. Those who do not respect Him or us will not change their stance through continual nagging. Those who want to know more will ask when they are ready.

Mark 6:11 "Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” They went out and preached that men should repent."

Matthew 10:14 "And whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust off your feet."

Zechariah 7:12-13 "…12 They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore, great anger came from the LORD of Hosts. 13 And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts. "

We live in a time when the "churches" want body counts more than they want the hearts of people to be changed by Christ. It is harder to reach someone who has already accepted a false gospel than to reach an unbeliever who has never heard any gospel.

 
Jeremiah 23:16 (KJV 1900) "16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord."

Philippians 3:12-14 "12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus."

When we speak the words of God, there will be many "professing Christians" who will be offended by them. They are either walking disobediently or they were never saved in the first place. Our job is not to convince someone intellectually, but to speak truth and leave their response to God.

 
When we begin to think it is up to us and our delivery for people to become born again, it is when we have lost our way, thinking we are the ones who bring the increase. We are not; we are only the messengers. It is the Holy Spirit Who works on people after they hear, and their choice to obey or not to obey.

 
1 Corinthians 3:5-7 "…5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role. 6 I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.…"

It is important that we pray and read the word every time we hear a modern cliche in these days of apostasy. Many "Christians" say things that sound good but are not Biblical and are merely humanistic pressure for us to do things their way. Listen long enough to research God's Word, and if what is said does not align with it, correct it and disregard it.

Eremition Solitude and Renewal

Who to Follow Christ or the Culture

The word "culture" comes from "colere" meaning to cultivate the mind. Culture shapes the mind as do cults, think about it.

Ignoring Useless Information

Those of you who spend many hours perusing the internet to find articles that promote what you like to believe, please stop. Almost all of what you read, you cannot prove and have not personally seen.

 
If you have not seen it for yourself, ignore it; it is better to be uninformed than to assume everything you read must be true because it is what you want to believe. I get how enticing gossip and news articles can be; I have indulged myself at times and have been bitten when I realized what I repeated turned out to be wrong.

 
Lies are rampant, and many things on the internet cannot be proven. Believing what we did not see for ourselves will make us foolish, repeating what we think we know but is very likely not true at all.

Proverbs 17:4 "a wicked person "listens to evil lips," and a liar "gives ear to a malicious tongue".

 
Just because its politics or someone is a public figure does not mean it is not gossip to repeat what we see in the news.

There have been times when I was caught up in the hype of something and shared it. I regret having done that and learned from the conviction of the Holy Spirit to be more careful about what I share.

 
The devil is very clever; if he can't get us to act badly, he will try to cause us to fall by our thought life and influence others to believe lies.

 
If we haven't seen it for ourselves and cannot prove it, then we must ignore it. Things we have not seen and cannot prove will ultimately corrupt us and deter us from the commands and principles of God.

And, lastly, AI is so clever and looks so real now that we cannot tell the difference between the real and the fake. If we cannot change what we read and it has no business in our lives other than "knowing" it, then it is useless information. Perhaps worse than useless, perhaps it is damaging gossip.

 
Proverbs 26:21-23 "…21 Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. 22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being. 23 Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning lips and a wicked heart.…"

Many people fire others up over things that do not affect their lives, and there is no useful reason for knowing them.

 
Ephesians 4:29 "Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen."

1 Timothy 5:13 "At the same time they will also learn to be idle, going from house to house and being not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, discussing things they should not mention."

May we all take this matter of "gossip" seriously, mind our own business, and teach what God teaches. We care about one another and must speak the truth to help; this is different from useless articles and gossip.

 
1 Peter 2:1 "Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander."

Priests of God in These End Times

Over the past two generations, I have noticed many elderly people who have been abandoned by adult children. Sadly, the elderly who have been abandoned are blessed to be so because the chaos and trouble the adult children bring is not worth ruining their walk with Christ. The children who abandon mean it for evil but God meant it for good, that we not be hindered with all the trials and disrespect that comes from those who chose the flood over righteousness. 

 
This phenomena is happening because of the fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."

We are nearing the end of the church age, now in which it will be the same as the times of Noah, when God had to destroy the world and all that was in it.

 
Remember, Noah had a lot of relatives in the flooding waters below as God shut the door of the ark. There were only 8 people on the ark. This does not mean that there will be only 8 people in our day who have trusted Christ, but it does mean that, for the most part, the people of the earth "do what is right in their own eyes and negate God's Word, making up their own righteousness.

 
Matthew 24:36-38 "36 No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark."

Luke 17:26,27 "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man."

We are living in the last days right before Christ comes in the clouds and call those who have trusted in Him to heaven while they still live. Their bodies will be changed into transformed bodies that will never again see corruption.

 
All those who meet Christ in the air will go to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb to celebrate their wedding feast. Everyone there will be those who love Him and love one another.

 
What an amazing time that will be for all of us who have suffered rejection and physical anguish. No more sickness, no more sadness, and only pure joy and peace for the rest of eternity. Knowing this keeps me going when things look bleak and there are few like-minded companions who love us as they love Christ.

May we, brothers and sisters in Christ, never lose sight of what is coming and are able to maintain our joy through everything!!!!

When we are born again, we become priests; everyone who has been changed by Christ into a new creation is a priest. The following passage is a prophecy about Israel. When we have been grafted into Israel we will see all these things happen.
1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Isaiah 61:6-8 "…6 But you will be called the priests of the LORD; they will speak of you as ministers of our God; you will feed on the wealth of nations, and you will boast in their riches. 7 Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. 8For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity; in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.…"

 
When we see what is in store for us as born-again believers, we have so much more to look forward to than what we are going through now. Let's never lose sight of this amazing promise.