Be Merciful, Judge Not, Condemn Not, Forgive, Give
These are just a few of the "commandments" God gives us. Look at 1 John 2:3, "Now by this we know that we KNOW HIM, if we keep His commandments."
This is how everyone around us, know that we are in Christ and that we KNOW him! The world is watching. What do they see?
This is also how WE know that we know him. If we are following God's commandments that He has given, then we can know without a shadow of a doubt that we know Christ. Because, unlike the "law", these are talk oriented, do this and you are ok tasks; these are lifestyle oriented things that can only be accomplished with a life in Christ.
It is helpful to be reminded that someone is always watching our example. I sometimes forget this when I teach my kids abd I have two kids in my martial arts class with no father to follow as an example. I hope I am setting a good Christian example for them. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteLuke 6:36-38
ReplyDeleteBe merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
We must not pass judgement! We need to look at ourselves! sometimes we look at people and judge them by thinking we want like them because of the way they look and we haven't even spoken to them. Just because someone looks different, wears different clothes or talks different doesn't mean they don't have something to offer you.
We must learn to forgive ourselves before we can forgive others. We must learn to forgive the person and show agape love. This does not mean we forget but learn with God's help not to be angered with whatever the situation is.
Give and you will receive... This could be "your time, a hug, or a smile" that makes someone's day. This will be given back to us someday. What ever standard or measure we use for other people we also have to apply to ourselves.