Sunday morning we challenged you to keep an eye on your mouth this week, by making sure the things you say don't slander or judge anyone. I wanted to use this post to make something clear. We are allowed to judge certain things. What we are talking about here is the judgement that comes from a person sitting down and stating emphatically, "What you've done is not of God." The truth of the matter is that when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, many thought that what he did was not of God...and it began the most pivotal reform of the church since Christ rose from the dead. So be careful judging someone's motives, because you might miss the mark completely.
But we are allowed (and even supposed) to judge the actions of people. We are supposed to call sin, "sin." In fact, if we fail to do that, we are falling into the trap that helps the culture become able to say, "anything goes!" When we something that is wrong, we are to call it out, and not stop until that thing is changed. In the church, we are to confront, engage and encourage people.
We are to confront sin when we see brothers and sisters in Christ doing things that ought not be done by sons and daughters of the King of kings.
We are to engage in relationship with our brothers and sisters, because when we are in real relationship, we find that we are able to confront and not fear any retaliation. We can even accept confrontation when it comes our way because we know that the person is acting in our best interest.
And we are to encourage each other to live our lives the way God intended us to live them. If we don't, we are simply standing over people and not offering any help.
So watch what you say today, and live your life in such a way that God is going to do awesome things through you!
Comment about how you were able to either confront, engage or encourage in your church. And we'll see you on Sunday!
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