Apples & Oranges

Lately it seems that any stand that I take for the gospel's sake or the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, is considered judgementalism. Wow, I surely am not a judge. I have never had any desire to be a judge, or even a lawyer for that matter! LOL! The word of God clearly tells us, Judge not ,lest ye be judged, and you know what? Even folks that have never read the Bible seem to know that verse. That seems to be the one and only verse that everyone wraps themselves in to hide from their sin. Well, I am not a judge, Jesus Christ is the Judge,He has called us to be fruit inspectors, people are known by the fruit that they bear. Apples DO NOT grow on Orange trees. When you see a person and they say hello there I am an Apple tree and you look @ them and they have oranges growing all over their limbs and you take notice of it and say excuse me you seem to have oranges popping out all over your branches I thought that you were an Apple tree and they become enraged and say I AM AN APPLE TREE AND YOU ARE JUDGING ME!

 What on earth are you supposed to do? This happens all of the time. You remember in the children's story The Emperors’ new clothes, it took an honest truth speaking little child to point out that the emperor was indeed naked, so, all I can say is truth is truth and if you are naked, you are just naked and if you have oranges growing on you then honey, you are an orange tree. By me pointing this out to you does not make me a judge, it makes me a fruit inspector. The word of God clearly tells us that we know people by the fruit that they bear, and to test the spirits to see if they are of God. That's what I try to do in my life and I get accused, falsely, I might add continually but, that's ok. Hey, they falsely accused Jesus too and He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The servant is definitely no better than the master and so, I go on.

 We are to love people and to show them the love of God. This is for the sinners and the backsliders, but, when supposed Christians are acting worse than the world, we must say something or we are no better. Lightness has no fellowship with darkness, and we are to shun the very appearance of evil, so, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then honey it is probably a duck! If something causes fear, gives you the creeps to look at it, if it is glorifying the devil and his works, then honey it is not of God and should be avoided,& shunned! We are not to let any filthy communication come out of our mouth, the Word says. We are to come out from the world, not just blend right in with them. We are to be salt and light in this world. Salt to make people thirsty for the Word of God and light to show them the path to Christ. I don’t get upset at sinners for acting like sinners or at backsliders because they need to be shown the way and to be brought to Christ.

What upsets me is when people that are calling themselves Christians and serving in church are acting worse than the sinners. We must talk the talk and walk the walk. Let’s ask the Lord today to enable us to crucify our flesh. To help us to be more like Him and less like us. Of all things we surely don’t want to be a stumbling block for sinners and backsliders. Most people today that I talk to about the Lord say to me, I just can’t stand hypocrites and I tell them, neither can I and Jesus couldn’t stand them either and told them to their face that they were vipers and snakes and were phonies, acting all pious and holy and they were all shined up on the outside but on the inside were like a tomb full of dead men’s bones. This was Jesus now, letting the hypocrites have it! As Christians we must talk, walk, dress, act like Christians. Doesn’t mean we have to be all religious but we need to be who we say we are. Be real. Talking nasty, saying nasty things on FB, ranting and raving at neighbors, telling ugly stories or jokes, these things do not look very Christian like do you think? Jesus didn't get upset with sinners. He loved them, showed them the love of the Father. Went to their house and ate and healed them and delivered them. The hypocrites are the ones that He would get upset with and I am the same way. People used to tell my dad, well Mr. John, the reason I don't go to church is because of all of the hypocrites! My daddy would say, yeah, I can understand that but, I would rather go to church with a few of them, that to go to hell with all of them! Realizing of course, that hypocrites are just a part of life and we just have to put up with them. Well..I don't take the same view, yes, there are hypocrites but, if they are in my circle of influence and I don't say anything to them, am I not just as bad as they are? Just some fruit for thought for today.