April 13, 2018
One for the Nitpickers
Romans 3:23-24 NLT
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
We all fall short of God’s glorious standard... Yet, we all apply our own standard of rules and regulations to other people all the time.
In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about not judging others because the measure we use on them will be applied to us, and we certainly don’t want ourselves held to the high, unmerciful standards we set for other people. We look at their broken area and criticize them while ignoring that we too are broken, but just in a different place – a place we certainly don’t want judged.
But God isn’t going to compare us to each other. He’s going to compare us to his Son, his perfect Son, Jesus. Paul says that it is therefore ignorant and foolish for us to compare ourselves with each other and use our own standard of measurement (2 Corinthians 10:12). With this in mind, we should be rooting for one another to receive as much grace and mercy as we desire for ourselves!
When Pastor Dean was teaching on Matthew 7 last week, he said that the idea of not judging one another doesn’t ever mean to overlook righteousness, for we must discern right from wrong and good from bad. The word he used was “censoriousness,” meaning severely critical. When Jesus tells us not to judge one another, it isn’t so we’ll train ourselves to overlook sin, it is for us to stop being critical, fault finding nitpickers.
Make allowances for each others faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. (Colossians 3:13)
Everyone has quirks and broken areas they’re working on. We must allow for that as we realize we might not have the same quirks, but we definitely have some. And, thankfully, God is full of grace for ALL those with quirks!
Dear God,
Thank you for having grace and mercy for my quirks! Help me apply the grace and mercy that I freely enjoy from you to others and not be a nit-picky, faultfinding, know-it-all. Help me be kind and encouraging today, especially to those I love and see the most. Thank you for your Son, Jesus, who has freed me from our arbitrary standard of measurements and in whose name I pray, amen.
One for the Nitpickers
Romans 3:23-24 NLT
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
We all fall short of God’s glorious standard... Yet, we all apply our own standard of rules and regulations to other people all the time.
In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about not judging others because the measure we use on them will be applied to us, and we certainly don’t want ourselves held to the high, unmerciful standards we set for other people. We look at their broken area and criticize them while ignoring that we too are broken, but just in a different place – a place we certainly don’t want judged.
But God isn’t going to compare us to each other. He’s going to compare us to his Son, his perfect Son, Jesus. Paul says that it is therefore ignorant and foolish for us to compare ourselves with each other and use our own standard of measurement (2 Corinthians 10:12). With this in mind, we should be rooting for one another to receive as much grace and mercy as we desire for ourselves!
When Pastor Dean was teaching on Matthew 7 last week, he said that the idea of not judging one another doesn’t ever mean to overlook righteousness, for we must discern right from wrong and good from bad. The word he used was “censoriousness,” meaning severely critical. When Jesus tells us not to judge one another, it isn’t so we’ll train ourselves to overlook sin, it is for us to stop being critical, fault finding nitpickers.
Make allowances for each others faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. (Colossians 3:13)
Everyone has quirks and broken areas they’re working on. We must allow for that as we realize we might not have the same quirks, but we definitely have some. And, thankfully, God is full of grace for ALL those with quirks!
Dear God,
Thank you for having grace and mercy for my quirks! Help me apply the grace and mercy that I freely enjoy from you to others and not be a nit-picky, faultfinding, know-it-all. Help me be kind and encouraging today, especially to those I love and see the most. Thank you for your Son, Jesus, who has freed me from our arbitrary standard of measurements and in whose name I pray, amen.
RSS Feed