We All Shall Stand Before Him...

But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Romans 14:10

Nobody on this earth is perfect; the sooner we all realize this, the sooner we all can live out the words found in Paul’s letter to the Church of Rome… Today’s devotional deals with our ability to be kind and affectionate to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ… There are so many of us that claim to be about the work of the Lord; however, the way we treat our brothers and sisters are the first steps we take to displaying our love for Christ… Remember that Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” These words were spoken by the savior in the 13^th chapter of the gospel of John after washing His disciples’ feet… The message from this passage is simple, you are know of God by the actions that you perform on this earth… We all abide by rules and regulations; however, Jesus encompasses all of these rules into one when He gives this command which is that we love one another… Not only did Jesus say that we must love one another, He also went on to say in the 12^th chapter of Mark, “The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Love is not only the very being of God; it promotes the very desires of God in and through us… It is of the utmost importance that we obtain the concepts outlined in today’s message; notice the questions that Paul posses in this verse; “but why dost thou judge they brother? Why dost thou set a nought thy brother? In reading these questions it is very easy for me to come to the realization that we are our own worse enemy… We pass judgment on our peers, we will step on others to get ahead and we will stop at nothing to reach our own personal goals even if they don’t align with the will of God… You have to dare to be different, you have to walk to the drum of Christ and not according to what the world says you need to do… Let people talk; don’t get tied into the minds of others nor allow yourself to be engaged in useless chatter… Paul writes to the Church of Rome teaching them the desires of God in how we should conduct ourselves on this earth… Romans 3:23 says “For we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…” I am no better than you and you are no better than I when we are living in this world… Likewise, when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior our desires and hearts should be to align ourselves with His will and bring others to Christ… The bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 that “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God desires for all men to come to know Him and understand the saving power that lies within Christ bloodshed… Knowing that God desires all (even those in the darkest corners of this life) to be saved tells me that I am not in a position to judge… Think about where you would be if God would have judged you before you came to know Christ… Think about the life you once lived or maybe even currently live and how much you have tried to put away in your secret closet… We are called to not judge our brother simply because we are not perfect and therefore aren’t in a position to judge…

As a child of God we should be happy when one repents, we should be joyful when a soul is saved; however we need to mindful of those around us who may not feel these things as they very well could be the wolves in sheep’s clothing… In the end we all stand before God and give account for everything that we do, or have done. Jesus came here to lift us up out of the muck and mire that had trapped us and set us on a course for damnation. Just as Jesus came to lift, we should also lift each other up in the time of need. God will judge you not for your words of devotion to Him, but the actions you toke to display your desire and loyalty… This is why Paul say that we all will be judged… Make no mistake about it, God looks at your heart and not what you say… This is true and imperative for us to understand because there are so many people trying to down their fellow man and yet call themselves a child of God… I never saw Jesus tell anybody that salvation wasn’t possible to be received… I have read scriptures where men and women cast out by people were accepted in Christ… Jesus mission was to save, our mission should be to direct others to Christ and you cannot do that if you are piling on to peoples problems with your tongue or if you are telling people that they are hopeless… Speaking these words not only are detrimental to anyone who hears them, but they also shed light on the fact that you aren’t a true child of God… If you speak these words than you deny the power that Christ has to save… You deny the authority He has on earth and in heaven and you deny that He can reach the outermost parts of this world… The great commission tells us to “go…” Too often we try and avoid others, we try to do what we want instead of living according to God’s plan and it is in these times that we are not following the direction of God and therefore will soon find ourselves in the same boat as those of this world. John 8 tells us of a story of hope for those who were thought to be hopeless and also shines light on the path that we must be on as child of God in extending a helping hand as oppose to passing judgment… Here is the story: ³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” The moral of this story, live what you claim to be or profess on Sunday mornings; the only way to show this on this earth is to help your brother!

BE BLESSED!!!