Love not Judge

  Love not Judge

Jesus when asked,

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 

Jesus replied: " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  

This is the first and greatest commandment.  

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.'  

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 

                                                                                                    Matthew 22:36-40

Jesus also said,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matthew 7:1,2.

I read an article the other day the article was on the church, in the United States. It noted how especially evangelicals have wandered well into the field of politics at the cost of their Christian principles.

What the whole article boiled down to was that the church needed to;

“Get back to the business of loving your neighbour instead of judging your neighbour.”

I would agree. Even here in Canada where I live I see many especially in the evangelical wing of the church passing judgement on those outside the church. And while many within the church do truly love others that love is masked by those who would judge anyone they disagree with.

The apostle Paul wrote,

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you." 1 Corinthians 5:12,13.

What Paul is saying here is simple. We are not allowed to judge those outside the church that is Gods job. 

Our job as believers in Christ Jesus is to see that what those inside the church are teaching is correct and lines up with the scriptures.

We have no right to say where anyone will spend eternity. 

Billy Graham the late American evangelist said it best when talking about Christians he said,

“It is the Holy Spirits Job to Convict, 

God’s job to judge

 and my job to love.” 

                              Billy Graham

Thus my question to you. If you consider yourself a Christian. A Follower of Christ Jesus do you love or do you judge?

Please think about it.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness.
Jesus when teaching his disciples how to pray in what we call the Lords prayer said,
“Forgive us what we have done wrong, as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.” Matthew 6:12.
Do you forgive?
Martin Luther King Jr. said,
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, in a sermon on December 22, 1940 just a little over a year into the second world war said,
“There is one other fundamental difference between love and hate.
Love is always a refuge.  Hate is never a refuge.  Only a mentally sick person can find refuge in his hates.  But love is the enduring sanctuary of life.  Life may rob you of many things.  It often does.  But it can never bereave us of love itself.  That remains.” Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver.
Love is a universal thing everyone of every one of every faith, even atheist understand. It is a universal truth that can and does bring people together.
But in order to truly love someone we must be willing to forgive any wrongs they may have done. That is especially true if you claim to be a follower of Christ Jesus.    Matthew’s gospel records this conversation between the apostle Peter and Jesus.
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” 
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew18:21,22
Jesus here was speaking figuratively. He meant we are to forgive people without keeping track of many times we’ve done it. The apostle Paul reminding us in 1Corinthians 13:4 Love “...keeps no record of wrongs.”
C. S. Lewis points out,
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” C.S. Lewis
Mahatma Gandhi had a valid point when he said,

“The weak can never forgive.

 Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

                                                     Mahatma Gandhi.

The way I see it as a believer in Christ Jesus. A believer in Almighty God I and indeed all Christians must forgive and show love to all we come in contact with. We must heed the words of the apostle John who wrote,
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11.
Please think about it.

A fundamental Truth

A fundamental truth.
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver wrote,
“There is one other fundamental difference between love and hate.  Love is always a refuge.  Hate is never a refuge.  Only a mentally sick person can find refuge in his hates.  But love is the enduring sanctuary of life.  Life may rob you of many things.  It often does.  But it can never bereave us of love itself.  That remains.’
-Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, rabbinic leader, from a December 22, 1940, sermon,    quoted in Therefore Choose Life: Selected Sermons, Addresses and Writings of    Abba Hillel Silver, Volume One, edited by Herbert Wiesner (1997)
Hate we see it we see it everywhere. Many look at the acts of terrorist groups around the world and see hate in its extreme.
However hate is prevalent in all nations. We see it in everything from road rage incidents to murders to hate crimes, to various crimes of violence. Even in nonviolent ways where a person simply hates their next door neighbour.
Mankind it seems is good at hating people. Hate is easy. Showing love can be much, much more difficult, especially if someone disrespects you or does something against you. Yet we must love. For if we don’t our society will eventually fall into anarchy.
Jesus set the ideal for all people everywhere. Whether you believe who Jesus was or not you cannot disagree with what He taught.
Jesus when asked,
 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40.
Jesus however went one step further saying,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:43-45.
The apostle Paul went on to define what true love is, saying,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.
Martin Luther King jr. a leader of the civil rights movement in the United States in the early 1960's said,
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
He was right. If we love God, our neighbour and even our enemy we can bring change to the world. This is what Jesus and the apostles taught.
Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor of France who tried to conquer Europe said,
"You speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests and of the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests, with an army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory? My armies have forgotten me even while living, as the Carthaginian army forgot Hannibal. Such is our power.”
“I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.” Napoleon Bonaparte.
Billy Graham said of the apostles of Jesus,
“The men who followed Him (Christ), were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up. The world has never been the same.”Billy Graham.
Love truly is the only way to change the world. All those who have ever hated and tried to conquer the world have failed and are assigned a note in history.
By contrast Jesus and His followers have showed love to the world and their work continues to this day. Christianity continues to grow even if places where it is persecuted.
Question do you show love to those around you?
What do you consider true love to be?
Please think about it.

Fruits of

Fruits of
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. 
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Galatians 5:18-26.
In the above scripture Paul makes clear what is unacceptable and acceptable Christian behaviour.
He lists the acts of sinful nature,
“sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies,”
 He then lists the fruit of a life dedicated to Christ,
“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
He warns us to keep in step with the Spirit of God.
In the world we live in today it is easy to slip into a worldly frame of mind. There is so much negativity around us. Temptations are everywhere.
Everything on Paul’s list of sinful things can be found in the media and in the world around us. No one is immune from the bombardment of sin.
It is therefore up to the Christian to immerse themselves in what is right. To study the Scriptures. To fellowship with other Christians. To attend church, pray and ask God to keep us safe both physically and morally.
Quite often Christians will pray for good health. That’s a good thing. But how often do Christians pray for God to keep us morally pure.
Sadly the immoral things are so common place in the world around us that we hardly pay any attention. They are so common place that we may even participate in some minor or major way without really realizing we are doing so.
To the Christian reading this I would suggest that you take time to assess your life and lifestyle. Pray and ask God to show you if you have any things in your life that He would not be proud of.
Ask God to give you the strength and determination to get rid of the negative things in your life. That you may live a life pleasing to Him .
Please think about it.

JE SUIS CHARLIE

JE SUIS CHARLIE

“When they came for the Communists, I did not stand up, because I was not a Communist. When they came for the Jews, I did not stand up, because I was not Jewish. When they came for the Catholics, I did not stand up, because I was not a Catholic. When they came for me, there was no one left to stand up.”
Martin Niemollor.
Martin Niemoller spent from 1937 to 1945 in Nazi death camps narrowly escaping death. He experienced first hand what it was to see the freedoms of others and his own freedom restricted.
Hitler was in the twentieth century the quintessential purveyor of evil. The war he started cost close to sixty million lives, not counting those he killed prior to the war.
Today the world faces a new threat. Terrorist who would restrict the beliefs and freedoms of all who disagrees with them.
Like Hitler these terrorist have been allowed to grow because the democracies of the west did not consider them a threat and firmly believed in freedom of expression, even if they disagreed with what was being said.
Now twelve people have been murdered in France by a group who while claiming to be people of God are nothing but evil men.
Not to long ago here in Canada two men killed two Canadian soldiers in the misguided belief they were doing God’s will.
Around the world there have been dozens of terrorist attacks all by men claiming to be of God but are doing nothing more than the work of the devil himself.
I admit as a Christian I know little about Islam. The few Muslims I’ve met and worked with are peace loving people, who have accepted me for the Christian I am.
I also admit I know little about the magazine that was attacked. Only that it tended to be irreverent and poked fun at everyone irrespective of who they are.
While I may not agree with what the magazine prints. I do respect its right to freedom of speech, because restricting the speech of anyone or any group is the start of a slippery slope that will end in restriction of freedoms of us all. Nazi Germany proved that.
I also know there is only one way to end the hate of this world. Through the love of Christ. Hate and force cannot change the minds of people.
Yeshayahu Leibowitz wrote,
“You can ‘t force people to do what they don’t want to do, to feel what they don’t feel.  If someone wills one thing, you cannot tell it to will another.  It has to come from within.”
-Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Judaic scholar and professor of biochemistry, quoted in 
 “Of Thorns, Idols, and Prophecy,” Hadassah, May 1990
Napoleon Bonaparte who certainly knew what it was like to try to impose his will on the world said,
"You speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests and of the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests, with an army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory? My armies have forgotten me even while living, as the Carthaginian army forgot Hannibal. Such is our power.”
“I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.”
“I search in vain history to find similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel.  Neither history nor humanity, nor ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”
                                                                                             Napoleon Bonaparte.
Terrorist like ISIS and others may try to conquer the world. May try to impose their will upon people but they will never win because they use force. And force cannot truly change the hearts of men.
Today scattered around the world in every nation there are over two point two billion Christians. We Christians are the largest faith group in the world and we continue to grow despite being the most persecuted group in the world.
 We have reached almost a third of the worlds population and we have done so through Love of God, Ones neighbour and even one’s enemy.
The terrorist of the world filled with an ideology of hate and lust for power will never understand it. It is for that reason they will ultimately fail.
The apostle Paul wrote,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  
                                                                                           1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.
It is such love, the love of Christ, that will ultimately change the world. Not force of arms or hate.
Think about it.

Love

Love
“There is one other fundamental difference between love and hate.  Love is always a refuge.  Hate is never a refuge.  Only a mentally sick person can find refuge in his hates.  But love is the enduring sanctuary of life.  Life may rob you of many things.  It often does.  But it can never bereave us of love itself.  That remains.”
-Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, rabbinic leader, from a December 22, 1940, sermon,    quoted in Therefore Choose Life: Selected Sermons, Addresses and Writings of    Abba Hillel Silver, Volume One, edited by Herbert Wiesner (1997)
Do you love? I don’t care who you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist. If unconditional love is absent hate will abound.
The Nazis during world war two promoted hate, limited their love to a selected few, and it resulted in the greatest genocide in world history. Twelve million plus murdered in death camps in excess of 60,000,000, civilian and military dead in the world war that ensued.
To day as I write this IS militants, men without honour or love in their hearts are killing innocent men, women and children.
While IS is extreme I look around at society today and see at times love lacking.
I am a Christian and I look at some who call themselves Christian ministers and evangelist in the media slamming various groups for their lifestyle and I ask myself where is the love.
I see non-Christian groups Atheist in particular demanding certain religious symbols be taken out of public spaces because they are offended and have rights, and I ask where is the love.
I watched the news and hear of young people killing young people over nothing of importance.
Gang violence is becoming prevalent in all our major cities. Gangs hate. They limit their love to their own. They hate others to the point of being willing to kill.
Love is slowly it seems drifting away from segments of our society and there seems to be no solution.
I do believe however there is.
It seems to be as society here in the west has drifted away from the basic Judao-Christian teachings of loving others as you would love yourself, society has started to decline.
I look at Christians particularly in the Bible belt of the United States and some Churches here in Canada and see them becoming confrontational. While at the same time failing to meet the needs of people youth and others of the twenty-first century.
The churches that I see as succeeding, are those who realize that the message of the Bible is for today and are framing it in a relevant and meaningful way.
They are showing love to all. They are not imposing their faith on anyone but rather inviting people of all ways of life to come and see what Christ has for them.
They are presenting the gospel of Christ and saying this is what Jesus said, this is what we believe and giving them the opportunity to accept or reject that message.  
I believe that the principles of love for one’s fellow man stated within the Bible is the solution to many of man’s problems in the twenty-first century.
The Apostle Paul wrote many profound things. Writing to the Corinthians he said,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13
Writing to the Romans he said,
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.  
On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” 
                                                                      Romans 12:18-21.
If even just these two principles were followed by all people in the world to day, our society would be a much better place.
Think about it.