SCRIPTURE: Matthew 7:1-5
(TM)
"Don't pick
on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults - unless, of course,
you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's
easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer
on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,'
when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling
road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of
just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be
fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
STORY by J. Stowell:
Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term
for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire,
deliberate, and decide. It has been described as "the place of conscious
and decisive spiritual activity," "the comprehensive term for a
person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and
will," and "the center of a person. The place to which God
turns."
OBSERVATION:
In a recent exchange of observations concerning those
recently elected to public office I became deeply and profoundly disturbed by
an attitude of judgment. An individual passed judgment on the “heart” of the
president based solely on the fact that his thinking did not square with her
particular biblical interpretations on several social issues. I didn’t response
to her comments because I didn’t feel at the time nor do I do now, that
anything I would share would be received in the spirit with which it would be
shared. I have found myself waking up during the night with her judgment
against the president working on my heart.
From this old preacher’s perspective none of us have the
right nor the ability nor the privilege to pass judgment on the heart of
another. Simply put, we cannot know what is the heart of anyone. Should we pray
for him? Yes … but pass judgment on him because he might believe something
different than we believe? Absolutely not. That belongs only to God … and in
that regards, I think God might have some surprises for us because of our
arrogance in our “biblical” stances on certain social issues.
Life and faith are more complicated than we make them out to
be. We cannot fit everyone into the theological pigeonholes that we have made
for ourselves. If that is what you believe, fine, but do not expect others to
squeeze themselves into the same hole and then feel, since they cannot … well,
then their heart is not right with Lord and … well, I think you know where that
line of thinking goes.
It was one of the dangers I recognized back in the early
80’s as the conservative religious right began to take over the party of my
father and mother, a party that I left with a heavy heart. A refresher course
in the role played by the conservative religious right advocates might be
helpful. Look into the Spanish Inquisition or Germany at the beginning of the
Hitler era or the Salem Witch hunts as well as the role that self-righteous
religious right thinkers played in non-Christian movements and I believe that
you will be amazed at the destructive force behind such thinking.
I might be wrong in my thinking … I am often wrong or at
least, I fail to communicate adequately what I am thinking … but passing
judgment on the heart of the president or on anyone else simply because their
thinking does not line up with ours is wrong … absolutely and totally wrong.
I’m leaving that up to God. I don’t want his job. Wouldn’t
take it if it was given to me. My job is to work on the splinters and blanks
and boards sticking out of my eyes, ears, heart and soul. God alone can
determine the authentic nature of another person’s heart. Thank God for his
grace and mercy in the process.
PRAYER:
Thank you for being there so I don’t have to be. Thank you
for granting me your grace and mercy even when I’m not always willing to show
others the same.
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