No Condemnation

The topic of how to deal with what’s right and wrong is a big deal in the church world right now. I see things on Facebook like, “you can’t change the Bible to meet your needs” with everyone agreeing left and right. I don’t disagree with this, but do people really stand behind it? I mean, are people striving every day to live a holy and blameless life themselves? Are they putting God first in their money, time, and energy? Are they giving God their physical health and their entire focus of their minds? If they aren’t doing these things, they should be the ones to throw stones.

Jesus talked about judging others and not judging yourself a lot. For example, the women who was caught sinning in John 8. Jesus pointed out that those who wanted to condemn her needed to reflect on their lives first before stoning her.

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, ‘Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?’ ‘No, Lord,’ she said. And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I. Go and sin no more.’” –John 8:9-11 NLT

I believe the Bible doesn’t change. My struggle with how we love to throw these phrases out is that we’ve turned into the crowd who are condemning people and not reflecting on ourselves. I have many areas in my spiritual life I need to improve in because I come anywhere close to reaching spiritual perfection. The good news is I have my entire life to get there and it’s one day at a time.

“Christians do not condone unbiblical living; we redeem it.” (Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli. p. 75)

I love this quote. Everything I’ve done wrong in my life, every mistake, is a chance for me to learn and grow from. Every time I meet someone who has done something wrong, it’s a chance to remind them of God’s grace. It’s a chance to bring redemption into the space. I don’t want to be known as a person who condemns but a person who redeems.