GLASS HOUSES
Lately, I've noticed that a lot of accusations are being hurled, all over the place! At friends, loved ones, at me, at President Obama, the previous administration, the media, fallen minister's, minister's who haven't fallen, but because they aren't poor, you name it--accusations abound! What I don't see much of, is forgiveness or mercy. That's a problem. You see, accusations, don't bring solutions. Forgiveness and mercy--they solve and heal a multitude of errors.
There is so much finger pointing. A lot of it comes from those of us who SHOULD know better--the Body of Christ. We should have learned better, in Sunday School--Card Class (as tots), in fact; hearing about the Pharisee's, accusing Jesus, that NO good can come of it. Yet, we get caught up in it, day after day, and we justify it, by saying that "God demands holiness and righteousness!!!" He sure does! Yes, HE does--but who are WE! It reminds me of the time, (in Acts, the 19th chapter) when the sons of Sceva decided they would cast out devils without authority. "And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the Name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." What's the point? Many feel the need to do the job of God--to fix people, to make them be righteous. That is NOT our work in the earth!
Our work in the earth is to be salt and light--drawing men. It is the love of God that we have one to another, that will draw men and women to Christ--and evoke change in their lives--nothing else. (John 13:34,35). We have our own plan of salvation--which involves, throwing stones, damning people to a hell--that we have no key for--no key for Heaven either, no control over the Lamb's Book of Life--and God is not being influenced by your suggestions, as to who should be placed where ('cause your suggestions are faulty!). Why not just stick to your job--and season the earth--plant seeds, on fertile ground, so that they have an opportunity to grow!
Back to the sons of Sceva. They were operating without authority from God. What they did, caused them to be humiliated, embarrassed and to be overtaken by the demons they were attempting to drive out of the man. The super-righteous ended up wounded and naked before, not only God--but their biggest fear--before men! Everyone saw their true weakness revealed. Be very careful when you throw stones--it usually ends up, revealing your weakness (that's the thing about glass houses and stones, you know?) and, nakedness (uncovering that very thing that you want most to keep covered)! Remember, when the woman was caught in the act of adultery and they brought her to Jesus--what did He say? "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.... And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (I think some of us would have been saying , but Jesus.... Do You KNOW what she did??!!!) Be honest!
What happened here? Those who came to convict her, found themselves convicted by their own conscience--that they were not perfect, that's right, not perfect. They came to understand, in light of that fact, they had no right to condemn anyone else, and dropped their stones and departed--from eldest to youngest. That has meaning, too. The older should be wiser and have experience to recognize, as time goes by, that things are not always as black and white as WE want them to be. Sin is Sin, but then there is GRACE, which changes the effect of sin on our lives--eternally! Sin is Sin--in all of its ugliness, but then comes God's tender mercies, "new every morning"--refreshing and washing us clean! Sin is Sin--but then, there was the Cross and everything changed! That's the message of hope that we must present to the world.
Keep your self-righteous, filthy rags to yourself--better yet, give them to Jesus, and turn over a new leaf! The world is waiting for us to clean the cobwebs of self-righteousness out of our hearts, so that we can present the message of love and redemption to them, without bias, without rejection, without shaming them--without accusation and without our stones. Jesus is waiting for us, too. He is saddened at how quickly we have forgotten, all that He delivered us from. He is heartbroken that we point our fingers at the world, who don't know Him (and simply behave according to the sin nature that reigns within them) and accuse them--rather than pointing them to Calvary, in love. It crucifies Christ afresh, when we throw stones at them, but look the other way, and excuse our own sin--yet we have His Spirit within us--we are inexcusable!
"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things." (Romans 2:1,2)
There is so much finger pointing. A lot of it comes from those of us who SHOULD know better--the Body of Christ. We should have learned better, in Sunday School--Card Class (as tots), in fact; hearing about the Pharisee's, accusing Jesus, that NO good can come of it. Yet, we get caught up in it, day after day, and we justify it, by saying that "God demands holiness and righteousness!!!" He sure does! Yes, HE does--but who are WE! It reminds me of the time, (in Acts, the 19th chapter) when the sons of Sceva decided they would cast out devils without authority. "And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the Name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." What's the point? Many feel the need to do the job of God--to fix people, to make them be righteous. That is NOT our work in the earth!
Our work in the earth is to be salt and light--drawing men. It is the love of God that we have one to another, that will draw men and women to Christ--and evoke change in their lives--nothing else. (John 13:34,35). We have our own plan of salvation--which involves, throwing stones, damning people to a hell--that we have no key for--no key for Heaven either, no control over the Lamb's Book of Life--and God is not being influenced by your suggestions, as to who should be placed where ('cause your suggestions are faulty!). Why not just stick to your job--and season the earth--plant seeds, on fertile ground, so that they have an opportunity to grow!
Back to the sons of Sceva. They were operating without authority from God. What they did, caused them to be humiliated, embarrassed and to be overtaken by the demons they were attempting to drive out of the man. The super-righteous ended up wounded and naked before, not only God--but their biggest fear--before men! Everyone saw their true weakness revealed. Be very careful when you throw stones--it usually ends up, revealing your weakness (that's the thing about glass houses and stones, you know?) and, nakedness (uncovering that very thing that you want most to keep covered)! Remember, when the woman was caught in the act of adultery and they brought her to Jesus--what did He say? "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.... And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (I think some of us would have been saying , but Jesus.... Do You KNOW what she did??!!!) Be honest!
What happened here? Those who came to convict her, found themselves convicted by their own conscience--that they were not perfect, that's right, not perfect. They came to understand, in light of that fact, they had no right to condemn anyone else, and dropped their stones and departed--from eldest to youngest. That has meaning, too. The older should be wiser and have experience to recognize, as time goes by, that things are not always as black and white as WE want them to be. Sin is Sin, but then there is GRACE, which changes the effect of sin on our lives--eternally! Sin is Sin--in all of its ugliness, but then comes God's tender mercies, "new every morning"--refreshing and washing us clean! Sin is Sin--but then, there was the Cross and everything changed! That's the message of hope that we must present to the world.
Keep your self-righteous, filthy rags to yourself--better yet, give them to Jesus, and turn over a new leaf! The world is waiting for us to clean the cobwebs of self-righteousness out of our hearts, so that we can present the message of love and redemption to them, without bias, without rejection, without shaming them--without accusation and without our stones. Jesus is waiting for us, too. He is saddened at how quickly we have forgotten, all that He delivered us from. He is heartbroken that we point our fingers at the world, who don't know Him (and simply behave according to the sin nature that reigns within them) and accuse them--rather than pointing them to Calvary, in love. It crucifies Christ afresh, when we throw stones at them, but look the other way, and excuse our own sin--yet we have His Spirit within us--we are inexcusable!
"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things." (Romans 2:1,2)
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