Do not give up judging!

The word ‘judge’ is used in the Scriptures with a variety of meanings. In a negative sense, it means to judge and therefore to condemn. But in a positive sense, it can mean to judge for the sake of discernment or to determine.

On one side, we see that we should never judge a brother and yet the church is called to pass judgment over sin in a brother. Similarly, we are called to judge righteously and yet we are told to be merciful and see the log in our own eye first. Most of us read the parable of the wheat and the tares and come to the wrong conclusion. It is not that we do not have the ability to judge. It is just that we usually do not wait to form a proper judgment. Jesus in that parable says that the wheat and the tares should be allowed to grow. Jesus Himself tells us to judge a tree by its fruits. So, on the whole, we understand that we do not give up judging altogether. Imagine! we will finally be called to even judge the angels. 

But while we make a righteous judgment over sin and condemn it, we can never condemn a brother because only God has the right to condemn. We can judge a brother but it is not to condemn but to extend mercy. Every time we complain against someone, we are judging to condemn instead of showing mercy.

Same Sex 'Marriage' is a Misnomer!

There is a lot of brouhaha regarding homosexuality and same sex 'marriages' in the world today but I believe it is a smokescreen thrown up by the devil whose real agenda is more sinister than we realize.The devil knows fully well that gays will be always a minority. His ultimate purpose is to pull down the very concept of marriage which is one of the greatest bulwarks of society with regards to its morality. Marriage is the only proper ground ordained by God for sexual activity (Heb 13:4). When society begins to accept homosexuals and same sex 'marriages', what is actually happening is that marriage itself is being undermined. If same sex relations can be legitimized and called 'marriage', then marriage itself becomes irrelevant. It becomes just a term of convenience, rather than a mandate. If the meaning of marriage becomes blurred, why define it at all? It is a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Sex outside of marriage (the Bible calls it fornication) will soon become a meaningless term. 

The homosexuals claim that because their relationship is consensual, it should be accepted. 'We are not harming anybody' they claim. What they do not see is that they are becoming tools of the devil to bring down the very structure of civilized society which is shaped by its morality. Fornication was always rampant in the world, but when it is given legal shape through a series of backdoor devilish manoeuvres, woe is mankind!

We fight but He fights for us

It is very important to understand how God moves us from one degree of glory to another. How do we grow? Is it power from God without any activity on our part? When God gave them the Law, they said they would obey but they did not. They failed to realize that they were helpless without God. They failed to see that they were in bondage to sin. But in the New Testament, Jesus came so that we may receive new life. We were released from the bondage of sin and curse. Now we can begin from a new place. However this is where our problem starts. We thought sin would be banished forever. But it did not disappear. So we ask God to remove the problem. We wait for power to fall and remove the envy and the anger. But it remains. Slowly it dawns on us that we have to do something. Now here is where we can falter. We can fail to understand a very important key. The decision to move forward has to come from us. The strength to move forward has to come from Him. We have to fight but He fights for us. We have to win but victory has already been purchased. In other words, it is revelation from heaven that should prompt us to move into what God already prepared for us.

The Word of God enlightens us. The Word of God empowers us. That is why it is called a new and living way. The Law is being written in our hearts. There is a prompting from deep inside us. We yield not by compulsion but because we want to. Grace has opened our eyes and changed our outlook. The whole book of Romans is an interesting picture of this journey of salvation. Read and understand.

Nothing can compare with it!

We think it is a church when there is a building.

We think it is a church when it has a pastor.

We think it is a church when we met on a Sunday.

We think it is a church when it has families.

Now all these things are good but what really constitutes a church? What is the most important quality that should be there which differentiates the church from every other institution on earth? I would say there are two qualities that shine out and not one. We can find submission in companies and schools. We can find love in friendships. But only in church can both submission and love be fully expressed and that too out of choice and not compulsion. The church today has failed to see this clearly. Don’t you see that even to draw other people to church, love among the saints can be a powerful thing. When we love one another fervently, the world would not fail to notice it. The most precious thing in the universe and the most misunderstood. 
Submission is another gem that should shine brightly in the church. If the triune God has displayed it in the heavens, how much more the church should desire to serve and submit to one another. There is no finer way and we should excel in these, God be praised.