CONDEMN ANOTHER?

Rom. 14:10 So why do you condemn another Christian? Why do you look down on another Christian? Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God.  NLT

      This truth should haunt every believer who has every condemned another believer.  It is so easy to set ourselves up as better than someone else.  It is easy to notice what someone else does wrong and not see what we are doing wrong.  It is easy to have closed minds about things and not try to understand what is really going on in others’ lives.

      We ought to embrace one another in the love of Christ.  We ought to seek to understand why people do what they do and help them to understand why it may be wrong.  We ought to exercise grace towards those whom we may disagree with. 

       Condemning others rarely does any good.  It creates harsh feelings and causes us to be very defensive.  It creates within us a sense of self-righteousness and pride.  It also breaks down fellowship within the body of Christ.  Our goal as believers should always be edification and restoration, never alienation.

      There certainly is a need for accountability in the church.  We can never condone sinful and disruptive behavior.  But when the time comes for the church to deal with those things, it should always be bathed in love and done with much prayer.  We should never forget that each of us is going to stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account before Him as to how we have lived and treated others.  We should always look inward at ourselves before we look outward at someone else.

      If you tend to look down on others because of what they do or say, ask the Lord to help you change your attitude.  We are to walk humbly before God and be gracious to all.  May the Lord help us to have the heart of Christ towards each other.