“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37)
I met with three senior citizens several years ago learn more about their views on matters like Social Security, Medicare, gun control and other issues happening in our society. Issues that they never imagined would matter when they entered the working world.
As I listened to them talk, I couldn’t help but notice how one of them had such a loving way about her. The attitude and character that she modeled for me in the thirty minutes I spent with her help me see life differently today. In fact, I saw one Christian quality in her that convinced me how much I needed to make sure that quality shows up more in my life.
She had a lost a son to AIDS but never mentioned how he got the disease. And I realized as her story unfolded that it really didn’t matter whether he died because of his sexual orientation, a needle stick, or a tainted transfusion. The real issue is that he was a victim and needed our love, not our judgment. “Jesus never told us to judge them,” she reminded me. “But he did tell us to love them.”
His suffering and death inspired her to dedicate the rest of her life to loving and caring for those whose bodies have been, or soon will be, ravaged by AIDS. She realizes that while their bodies may be condemned, no sentence has yet to be handed down on their souls; so she chooses to them while many of us choose to shun them. Either way, it is a choice we make.
I don’t believe that God brought AIDS our way to punish the world for the sin of homosexuality, no more than he brings the flu to punish us for shaking hands with each other. I do believe that God intends for Christians to love their fellow man in spite of the mistakes they have made. In fact, Jesus taught his disciples that Christians should first love God with all their hearts, souls and minds. And they should love their neighbor just as if he were one of their own. “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments,” he told us. (Matthew 22:40)
Instead of following Jesus’ instructions, we use sin in the lives of others as an opportunity to condemn them. That attitude does nothing to point anyone towards God. It drives them away. And the irony of it all is that it’s the sin in our lives, not their lives that may very well seal their fate. They may never see heaven because we never gave them the opportunity to see Jesus.
Our attitude about AIDS, gambling, adultery, substance abuse, (you put the sin here), reminds me of the attitude that the Pharisees displayed when Jesus walked among us. They condemned Jesus for associating with sinners. They forgot to look at others through the sin in their own lives. Jesus reminded them as he continues to remind us: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12)
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Greetings from Griffin, Georgia. I have read your devotionals for years and have found them to be very inspirational. This one was no exception. These words reminded of what our pastor has been saying lately: “We are the only Bible some people will ever read, or the only Jesus some will ever see.”
The following is not relevant to your intention in this article but while not always critical to the content, missing words can make quite a difference in what we are trying to convey. Proofreading was part of my life for many years and even at almost 70 years old, I have found it hard not to “proof” everything I read. In today’s culture of short texts, abbreviated sentences (TTYL), bad grammar, misspelled words and no punctuation (even in newspapers and magazines) it is to me a miracle we are able to communicate at all.
The Bible is often hard to understand even in modern translations; I can only hope newer versions will be carefully proofed before being published to insure the integrity of their content. The missing words in this article are not critical to me but might be to someone else. I am going to let you find them and decide for yourself.
I appreciate your continuing commitment to share the gospel while working in the public sector.
Great reminders and good points. Thank you very much for the devotion.