' This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says; Reform your ways and your actions and I will let you live in this place.' (Jer. 7:3) Jeremiah saw all kinds of sin infiltrating the church in his day and no one showed remorse. It seems that even today as a church not only do we not show remorse, but we justify, defend, and with greater purpose continue in that sin.
Matthew 7:1-2 is where Jesus is teaching the sermon on the mount. A vast majority of his listeners were Pharisees who created their own laws and regulations and strayed from the scriptures and rejected the teachings of Christ. "Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Perhaps the Pharisees used even great standards (or so they thought) than what was given in the scriptures.
From what I've heard, and learned, we can and should be judging or speaking the truth according to the absolute truths presented in scripture, nothing else. Yes, there is a lot of stuff that can be interpreted differently so maybe those interpretations are not the absolute truths?
Here are a few questions the authors brought up in Moments With You, emphasis mine because it hurt:
- Why is the divorce rate inside the Church nearly identical to the divorce rate outside the Church?
- Why do so many Christian men perform aggressively at work yet remain disengaged and passive at home?
- Why do so many Christians say their secular job is their ministry but then show so little fruit for their efforts?
- Why do Christians talk about family values while their lifestyles are virtually identical to the average non-Christian?
- Why do so few Christians possess confidence that they are on a divine mission?
- Why do less than 10 percent of all Christians regularly tell others about God’s forgiveness through Christ?
- If Jesus really changes lives, why do 50 million Americans claiming to be born again have such a marginal impact on society?
Why are we so afraid to hold each other to the standard God has laid out for us? Aren't we to be fulfilling the Great Commission? Yes we need to offer compassion and grace so that should be incorporated within sharing the truth. People are not going to notice us, more importantly Jesus in us, if we don't live to the standards of the Bible. Church, let's grow up, get out of our comfort zones, and allow Jesus to change lives through us!
Are you looking in the mirror? What truth do you need to hear? What truth do you need to share with someone else?
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