Are you disappointed with church people? Did a church let you down in the past? Maybe the imperfect people there did not respond to you like you envisioned they would. Possibly someone was rude, or curt or made you feel uncomfortable. However, most churches are full of caring people who are making every attempt to overcome their carnal, fleshly nature. Have you ever heard the quote; “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven”? There is a great deal of truth in that statement. Most church people really care about each other and other people.
Some people come to Christ with learned negative
behavior, a broken heart or insecure living arrangements. These obstruct our
sanctifying process in certain areas. We may be mentally and emotionally lame
from abuse. At times, we have life circumstances that hinder us from healing in
those areas; and sometimes they even compound our other issues. We may still
exhibit negative emotions, character, habits and, at times, lifestyle choices that
give Christians the reputation for being hypocrites.
That is why the Bible
exhorts us not to criticize one another, because God is our only judge. We
stand or fall by His opinion and judgment, not by the condemnation of our peers
(Romans 14:4). The proof of
salvation is a changed life; however, we do not change instantaneously in every
area all at one time. However, this does not excuse any penchant to sin that we
refuse to relinquish to God, because our consistent Christian lifestyle is our
greatest testimony to the world.
Our justification for
salvation, and our glorification of our body when we see Jesus are
instantaneous occurrences. Unfortunately, our sanctification – the process of
becoming holy – takes a lifetime. Our spirit is dead in sin until we come to
Christ for salvation (Ephesians 2:1-5). Then the Holy Spirit inaugurates the sanctifying
process at the moment of our spirit’s rebirth. However, the evidence of His
ministrations is hard to see sometimes. God teaches us to correct, rebuke and
encourage one another with unceasing patience and diligent discipleship (2 Timothy
4:2).
God gave us all different
spiritual gifts and He expects us to use them to build one another up (1
Thessalonians 5:11). Discernment is one of these. If you see a fault in someone, do not
judge them, but pray for them and for God to heal their deepest wounds.
According to the grace and faith God gives us, we can use our gift of prophesy,
serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, compassion and administration with
patience and cheerfulness to build up the Body of Christ (Romans
12:6-8).
Prayer:
Lord
Jesus, You encourage us to hate what is evil; yet, You command us to encourage
the sinner, realizing they are a work in progress. When we are offended by
someone’s words or actions, remind us that they may be dealing with underlying
hurts and hindrances that prevent their victory in this area of their life.
Help us to show compassion and grace to those people at church, work, in our
neighborhood and especially in our own family. Allow us to reap this same favor
from others.
Thought
for the Day:
Living
a surrendered life to God allows us to walk in a consistent manner that
promotes our positive testimony to the world around us.