What Right ?

             Today I have to say I feel more normal. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I am so happy to be surrounded by such a diverse crowd of friends that love the Lord. Every individual comes from a different background, different time in life , different depth of knowledge of God. Yet when I stop and listen to what each person says it makes me realize that each person can give me thoughts and ideas that are very different yet all a very relevant to growing in Christ. That is  being  part of the family of God . Right?  Makes me want to keep smiling. 

                     The awesome part of it is we can all have our differences and yet, as God as the center of our lives we can honestly talk to each other without fighting and picking at each other. Peter and Paul both talk about christians being known by their love. Yet so many of the so called christians I have met can be the most condemning , judgmental , unkind people I have ever been around. Why?  Then there is the true christians that are the kindest most loving people around.  So here I am not wanting to be judgmental ,wondering are all of these people really christians or not . I know its not for me to worry about.  Its up to me to be kind, not condemning. If someone comes to me with obvious sin in their life, according to the way I live my life,or my belief is it my job to condemn them and let them know what a failure they are? I don't think so, if God treats me according to the way I treat other people where is that going to put me? Not a good place.  I've heard it said that we aren't judging if we see it is not according to Gods word. So I have been a christian for two years and experienced the feelings of guilt over something I have done, does that mean the new christian I have just met should feel that guilt also, and if not are they condemned in Gods eyes. You tell me. Sure we need to have rules and guidelines , but how far can we go until we are adding to Gods word . What is the greatest commandment? Jesus said it  Love the Lord your God and love one another.  We must have faith and be born again,  we  must follow God's commandments , and bear fruit.  Basically we need to live a life crucified to this world and sin.  At  what point in my christian life then do I have the right to condemn others because they don't do things exactly like I do or believe.  I have two friends that I have known for many years . They both live very Godly lives and totally believe the way they live is the most scriptural way to live , but in doing so they would be condemning the other person to a point of saying they aren' t saved. So who is right? They both say they are and back it up with scripture. .My thought is they have both worked out their salvation with fear and trembling and totally love God with out a doubt and both are right as long as they don't lose sight of God because of their religion. Does that make sense? Who says who is right? I think only God can be that judge. I found that if I start studying in the Bible with a preconceived idea that I almost always end up making the scriptures fit what I want them to say instead of really looking at the whole picture. It is difficult to do , but very necessary as far as I am concerned to make sure I study with prejudices.

                            What it all boils down to for me is if we were put under some sort of persecution for what we believe the unity of Gods family would truly show itself then. The true christians would stand out like stars in the dark sky. So why can't we do that now, what are we afraid of , where is our love . Helping people is a great thing when it is done in the spirit of love but done in a spirit of condemnation or lack of love is quite possibly the most disrespectful, degrading situation a person can be put . To the point that a weak believer could easily lose their salvation. I would really hate to think of the consequences of such unloving actions. I just pray that God will help me to love in the way I can encourage people and make them want to follow my Lord and feel His love through me to them. I have a long ways to go in this perspective of life. So I am going to try to think of me being in their shoes  first and how I would feel if they treated me the way I have treated them.  As far as I can tell doesn't matter what we do in this life , without love it all means nothing to God.   I'm praying that I can learn to show love to others with out  judging. Even if their is obvious sin in their lives who am I to condemn them. I can encourage them to grow by example. And always stand for the principles that I have but not  in a condescending manner to the other person.  

           I truly think if I have God's love flowing through me I will not be out condemning people but showing them through love how to find God and He will accomplish His work in them. I know there is much more to this as far as teaching the Word but I have to start somewhere.  Why are a lot of christians the hardest people to work for?  Is it good stewardship or just love of money and possessions. For me its was about making sure nobody would ruin " my" stuff or not give me what I deserved.  The question I have now is what  do I deserve.  Death in the lake of fire  Right? But God gave His Son to die for me so I didn't have to die. Did I deserve that ,noooo,  Sorry I feel like I'm ranting because I feel like there is not much love passed around in christian circles and II am one of the worst. So pray that we can all learn to love like God wants us to love.  

                                          Until next time   God Bless