Hello everyone. 🙂 In this blog post, I will be sharing one of the most powerful, liberating, lessons that God has been teaching me lately. I hope that what I share here will be of encouragement to someone else who is needing it now as well.
I have come to realize something over this past year: I was a person who allowed what I believed about myself to be too strongly influenced by what other people believed about me and too little influenced by what God believed about me. I want to share with you all the freedom that I am finding in Jesus.
I have been guilty of being judgemental towards others, and I also know what the sting of being judged feels like. Praise God that there is both transformation and healing to be found through Jesus! Without further to do, let’s get into today’s study.
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It is true that we do not know ourselves as well as we think we do much of the time. There may very well be things that others accurately observe about us that we may not see in ourselves. With this being the case, it is always right for us to be humble and not immediately dismiss people’s complaints about us. We may actually gain some helpful insight from these complaints regarding areas in our lives that may truly need change.
The balance to this is the fact that people do not have all wisdom, and even the best of us may come to incorrect conclusions regarding other people. Whether incorrect input regarding ourselves comes from those who simply lack a completely accurate understanding of some aspect or aspects of ourselves, from those who are hurt (maybe even legitimately) by something or things we have done, and who may have consequently developed an overgeneralized and possibly exaggerated view of us, or from those who are simply against us for any number of reasons, we need to remember that humbly acknowledging our faults and errors, while at the same time not owning the ideas about ourselves that are untrue is extremely important.
I have learned from experience that when people’s opinions of us automatically define God’s opinions of us in our minds, we are resting on a shaky foundation. I believe that what I am about to share here is one of the most liberating truths that there is. Please listen closely: there is not a human being anywhere who can be the final word on our sincerity or lack thereof in our relationships with God.
There is not one human being anywhere who can determine anyone else’s destiny. The words “you’re going to hell,” or even, soberingly, “you’re going to heaven” do not automatically become the truth simply because a respected Christian has said them to another person: professedly Christian or not.
Seriously…. there isn’t one soul on the face of the earth who has been granted power by God to know every inmost thought and purpose of another person, or to know what someone else’s eternal destiny will be: not one. Those who may think that they have this ability, deserve our deepest pity: they are terribly, and dangerously deceived. Lies only have power over us when we believe them, so, my friends, let’s be free!
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 1 Timothy 2:19 (KJV)
This is a powerful verse. This verse tells us that God knows which people have decided to be His; in fact, no one, anywhere, can change the truth about which people are God’s people, nor God’s recognition of those who are His people.
But…what if we aren’t sure if we are among God’s people? There’s hope! Jesus never required that the people who came to Him were sure that they were His people; all He asked for is that they would come to Him, and He Himself has said: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37 (KJV)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (KJV)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (KJV)
But…what if we struggle to believe Him? We want to, but…it’s almost as if we can’t! There’s hope! Jesus has seen this kind of thing before! Read the story in Mark 9:17-27! A father wanted Jesus to deliver his son from the demonic oppression that the boy was under, but he struggled to fully believe that Jesus could deliver Him. Here is the point in this story where the tide turned…gloriously.
“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.”
And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.” Mark 9:25-27.
Freedom! When the father of the boy chose to believe Jesus and asked for Jesus’ help to overcome his unbelief, Jesus answered his request and set his son free from demonic oppression! He can set ANY of us free from the oppression of sin if we choose to believe that He can, and ask Him to help us believe that He can! Then, we will be able to know, by faith, that we are indeed truly and entirely His.
As we grow in the knowledge that we have just discussed in this blog post, we can come to the place where we can confidently say along with the apostle Paul:
“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 4:3-4 (KJV)
Freedom! And I want to say as well: if we find ourselves among those who have been convicted by God that we have been judgmental, there is hope for us too! God loves us, and He has been pursuing us. Perhaps we have been judged by others as a result of the fact that we have judged others.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:1-2 (KJV)
Ouch! Self-righteousness reaps misery. Now we want forgiveness, transformation, and hope.
“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” 1 Corinthians 4:5 (KJV)
So, just remember that the same Jesus who wanted to draw the open sinners and the rebellious, the same Jesus who wanted to draw those who were outcasts, and those who were so confused and broken, also wanted to draw hypocrites, the proud, the judgemental, and the fanatical. In fact, Paul, who wrote both 1 Corinthians 4:5, and the verse I am soon to cite again below was a former Pharisee! There’s hope!
Once we’ve confessed our sins to God, and to those we’ve hurt, as God leads us to, we are free! We may have even been both judgemental towards others and judged by others, and no matter which may have come first in our individual lives, there’s water under the bridge with God now. ❤
Former spiritual oppressors and the formerly spiritually oppressed can both take heart and drink in God’s beautiful truths about all of us:
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 1 Timothy 2:19 (KJV)
“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 (KJV)
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Courage! Also: whoever you are, whatever you’ve done, both God and I love you, and we want you to know that. ❤
Learn and Grow 4ever 