Be careful lest you fall

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! I Corinthians 10: 12

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7: 1 – 2

We know it takes only ‘faith as small as a mustard seed and you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move (Matthew 17: 20) but the converse is also true. It can take one tiny seed of criticism, judgment, doubt and unbelief to grow into something very unhealthy.

We know from our recent time in South Africa what a terrible and destructive fire can come from one small spark.  James tells us that ‘a great forest can be set on fire by a small spark and the tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body’ (James 3:  5 – 6).

I have been dismayed recently by how one small negative remark about another person can grow into a feeling of deep distrust and suspicion about that person based on nothing more than another's idle remark.

Even worse I found out how quickly I can slip into terrible criticism and judgment of others based on what I have read in the media or seen on television. It feels so justifiable when leaders are corrupt and hypocritical or worse when the body of Christ starts taking large chunks out of one another, to feel angry and self-righteous.

However I quickly came to realise I was standing right on the edge of a slippery slope only a small step away from falling right over. Fortunately God reminded me from reading Steve Backlund’s book Igniting Faith in 40 days that ‘criticism and condemnation will actually decrease personal and corporate faith.’ Chastened I backed down from my anger and self-righteousness and extended the grace I like to receive but find hard to give.

So what do we do when faced by sin and shortcomings in those who we feel should know and behave better? Pray. Pray for them that God would open their eyes, not because we are right and they are wrong but because if they are sinning then they are damaging themselves as well as the church or nation.

We must forgive especially if it is personal and then hand the people to God for his righteous workings in their lives. Finally we must bless them. This moves us from the low ground of hatred and anger, judgment and criticism to the higher ground of grace. It sets us free and moves us away from the edge of self-righteousness which leads down the slippery slope to hypocrisy.

Jesus is our perfect example. Nailed to the cross, crucified as a common criminal yet having done nothing wrong, having spent an exemplary life of doing good to others he forgave those who were wronging him. Jesus life was a life of love and grace. He said ‘For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world’ John 12: 47.

Next time the small seed of criticism and judgement gets sown in your heart whether by yourself or others, weed it out quickly. Set yourself free.  Let’s live the life of love and grace that Jesus won for us on the cross.

A man after God's own heart

After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Acts 13:22

When God told Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint a new king, one of Jesse’s sons, his first thought when he saw Eliab, the first born, was that this must be the one (I Samuel 16: 6). Samuel was looking for a king as the people had, a king like all the other nations had, a king like Saul, tall and handsome.

God told Samuel not to look at the outward appearance because God does not look at these things, he looks at the heart. God was looking for a king who would have his heart and do the things God wanted him to do.

How true it is that man looks at the outward appearance. So often we look at men’s success or failings from the outside – we do not see what God sees – a man’s heart. Today when we hear of Christian leaders, who have fallen into moral or financial sin, it is shocking how quickly churches and individual Christians jump in to criticise and distance themselves from these people.

Whilst I understand that people may feel disappointed that those they admired or whose teaching or ministry has blessed them in the past have fallen, criticising and judging them is not the answer.  I wonder what the reaction of these people would have been to King David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his subsequent actions to have her husband Uriah the Hittite killed? There is much to criticise in David’s actions but as he himself said:

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51: 17.

David was truly sorry and repentant:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51: 10 – 12

So often people look at the outward appearance – they do not know the heart of other people – only God knows that. It is not for us to criticise other people’s actions and whilst we also cannot condone sin, it is not our place to judge them – only God can do that.

We are all sinners saved by grace and unless we have walked the path that others have walked and faced the temptations they have faced, we are in no position to comment on their moral failure. So often the price they have paid for their sin is heavy, David lost his baby son. Many will have lost their marriage, family, home, ministry and income.

God and God alone knows their heart.  God not only restored David, he used his moral failure as a stepping stone to his plans and purposes to build an everlasting kingdom through David’s line. It was from this line that God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ was born.

We must pray for our fallen leaders and let God’s amazing grace ‘create in them a pure heart and restore to them their joy of their salvation’.