Just before this verse above, Paul is talking about the responsibility he has as a servant of God and a manager of the mysteries of God. How it is required of us to be found faithful and good stewards of what God has given us. I love that these two verses come in after! Paul cared very little about what others thought of him, he knew that he would have to give an account to God rather than the people of this earth. Paul even said that he cannot judge himself, that the only one who could judge him based on the works he had done was God.
A couple things stand out to me with this passage of scripture:
-The account I give is going to be given to God. So other peoples opinions on what I am doing or not doing means very little. If God has called me to do it, the rest should not matter. God is the all knowing, ever knowing, omnipresent God.
-Many things God calls me to do may not make sense to others, but it does not matter. Many times, faith does not make sense. When we are living with a heavenly focus rather than an earthly focus we live much differently than the rest of the world expects us to.
-Only God can judge me is so misunderstood and twisted today. Other people are going to judge you. Unfortunately, that is how the world is. Let God’s opinions and commands be so loud that it drowns out the opinions of others.
-We each have a responsibility to do what God has entrusted us with.
-We will each give an account to him when the day comes.
With all that being said, this passage of scripture brought me freedom but responsibility for the short time I have here on earth. I am choosing to not let other people’s opinions sway the plan and purpose God has for my life. My worth, identity, responsibility, and accountability does not lay with them. I am called by God. Things may look funny but if God calls me to do it, it is for a reason. His plan and timing are perfect. Absolutely flawless.
Let all of us stop seeking the approval of others and instead be focused on our obedience to the Father. If you catch yourself judging, confess and repent. What may look funny to you could be someone’s obedience to the father. In the end, God will bring the light to what is hidden in the darkness and reveal the intentions of every single heart.
Let our hearts be focused on the praise that comes from the Father rather than searching for approval from others.
This past weekend my husband and I went to the TobyMac hits deep tour. Outside of the concert while we were waiting in line we were face to face with protestors with signs that said “We will go to hell for our sins” “Repent or go to hell you…*insert every type of sin + er*” as they were quoting scripture OUT of context. I sat there quietly in line praying to God for the people that had such a misconception of the bible. I finally saw the world’s view of God. This very twisted, condemning, not loving, hateful God. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT WHO HE IS!! This, my friends, is what we call satan himself at work, twisting the word of God to make it something hateful instead of the love story to his creation it is.
Am I saying sinning is okay? NO.
Am I saying people won’t go to hell? NO.
Am I the judge? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Does God look at your heart? YES.
What I am saying is, this particular group of people were lost and didn’t understand the word of God. They don’t understand their creator. There was no love in their chants. There was nothing but condemnation. Which is straight from the pits of hell.
As I prayed I asked Holy Spirit what Jesus would do in this situation. What should I do? Should I talk to them? Should I hug them?
Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “look around you”. As I looked around there were people laughing, people making remarks about the love of God, and others that stood there in silence. What Holy Spirit revealed to me in that moment was powerful. As they stand here judging us, most of us were doing the same as them. WHO is called to judge? Not me, not you, not anyone but God. I asked Holy Spirit why they thought the way they did…I asked him to show me them through the eyes of Jesus. He revealed to me that it was generations and generations of the word being twisted all being rooted in fear and darkness. Years of abuse and ancestry curses haunted them. He spoke to me and reminded me that we never know what people deal with at home. I asked Holy Spirit to let me know what I was supposed to do and if I was supposed to speak up, give away hugs, or anything else, just let me know. He let me know that there are people to get those people who were lost out of darkness, but that wasn’t me. By then I had entered inside.
There were many conversations inside about what was going on outside the 4 walls that surrounded us. One included me telling my exact conversation with Holy Spirit to a lady that was eating to the table next to us. I wasn’t here to gossip. I wasn’t here to slander them. I was here to be the light as God called me to be.
The flesh in me originally wanted to march right up to these people and yell at them about how wrong they were for telling people they were going to hell and judging others. But I would be doing the EXACT SAME thing as them. Trying to be the judge of someone’s sin and pointing fingers when I have no room to do so. I would have spread hate, not the love of God.
Holy Spirit led me on a complete and opposite direction.
BE THE LIGHT TO THE DARKNESS.
LOVE THE PEOPLE WHO NEED IT MOST.
DON’T BE FRIENDS WITH THE WORLD.
STAND WITH GOD.
WALK IN THE SPIRIT.
As Children of God we are called to LOVE.
PERIOD.
Love.
EVERYONE.
ALL.THE.TIME.
Loving One Another
“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.” 1 John 4:7-21 NLT
