It is not wrong to be "judgmental."

Do you know what? I am tired of hearing Christians accuse other Christians of being “judgmental.” Let’s just get one thing straight, OK? If I am a Christian and you say you are a Christian, I have every right to judge the fruit of your walk in Christ.

If you are hanging out with bad company, if you are getting drunk or smoking or doing drugs, if you are watching things you shouldn’t watch, if you are gossiping or slandering, if you are dressing immodestly, if you are shirking responsibility, if you are rebelling against authority, then I have every right to call you on it. And you don’t get to call me judgmental!

If you are preaching a gospel other than the one we have been given in His word, if you are claiming something that is not biblical, if you are coming against His church or His people, if you are slandering the name of Christ by the way you live your life, if you bring shame to Him rather than glory, then I have every right to judge you!

If you say you are a Christian, and I observe a backward way in you but say nothing, am I loving you? Am I doing my service to you as a sister in Christ if I sit back and let you destroy yourself? It is not wrong for a Christian to judge another Christian if it is done by the standard of God’s word.

“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.” Matthew 7:16-18

“Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself lest you too be tempted.” Galatians 6:1

November 22nd Journal Entry, Unedited and Uncut

I received a greater light tonight while praying for my son before bedtime. At the end of my prayer, I prayed that the Lord would put a great love in Logan’s heart for the Living God. As I prayed this I felt God affirming me as His daughter and He let me for a short time experience His fatherly love for me as I have never before felt it.

I have been complaining in my heart a lot lately and ungrateful for my position on this earth. Sometimes I am even resentful of my affluence and religious freedom because I fear that my reward in heaven shall be less because I am not persecuted.

But my Dad in heaven hath shown me that all has been given to me as a gift from Him. He wants me to have it and He is pleased to give it. And I should be thankful for it so long as it is mine because He loves me and wants my happiness. And should I walk around grudgingly and without thankfulness, I am shirking His gift. I am throwing it back in His face and labeling it unacceptable. But, alas! He is the Potter and I, the clay. And the thing molded shall not say to the one who molded it, “Why have you made me like this?” Nor shall the thing made say to its maker, “Why have you placed me here?” For its Maker shall place the vessel wherever He pleases.

And God has placed me here and here I shall follow Him and that with an uncomplaining heart.

What it all comes down to

“I don’t believe in God!” a young man exclaims. “Why not?” I ask. “Where is He?” the young man replies. “I don’t see Him anywhere!”

Many a person does not believe that God exists because they cannot “see” Him. I would have to agree with them. They most certainly are not able to see Him; however, that does not mean that they do not see Him.

The problem with people is that they think that God should be corporeal. They think they should be able to reach out and touch Him. They want Him to walk through the front door and prove that He exists. But alas! God is not a man that He should be limited by a physical body. He is God! He is omniscient and omnipresent. He is in every place at once.

Let me repeat that. He is every place at once! He is right here in my kitchen and on the other side of the world in someone else’s kitchen at the same time! How is this possible, you ask? Well, because He’s God! It is in the very definition of who He is! Anyway, here is my answer to the person who says they don’t see God anywhere:

Sure you do! You see Him all the time! You just don’t recognize Him. Check out this verse in Colossians: “And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” This verse is talking about Jesus. It is important to understand something. Jesus Christ was God in the form of man and He was called the Son of God. And the Bible says that in Him all things hold together.

God does not form the bowl made of clay and then just sit it on the table and walk away. In Him, that clay bowl holds together. God’s hands are always on it holding it together so to speak. I like to think of creation as God’s great tapestry. And throughout His tapestry, God is intricately woven in to it. Without Him, we would not simply break or shatter—we would cease. We cannot exist apart from our Creator. So you want to know where He is? Look around. You see the walls of your home or the grass and trees outside, but you only see the surface. He’s there! “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…” Romans 1:20

Have you ever had an experience where you were thinking about someone and wondering how they were because you hadn’t seen them in forever? And then you run into them at the grocery store the next day or better yet, they call you because they were thinking about you too? You call this coincidence but I am telling you there is no such thing! That is God almighty! You just don’t see it because you call it something else! You have labeled it wrong! God has a reason for everything. Nothing happens without purpose.

Have you ever missed being in a car accident by the skin of your teeth? Have you ever found something precious that you thought you had lost? Have you ever known something by instinct that you couldn’t have possibly known? You call it luck, but I’m telling you, THERE IS NO SUCH THING! It’s Him! And He’s letting you know that He exists all the time! You just aren’t paying attention!

God wants you to know how much He loves you. He has a great purpose for your life. You are precious to Him. So precious, in fact, that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for your sins. It is God’s desire for you to be reconciled to Him forever. Have you ever accepted Jesus as your Savior? You can do it today! All you have to do is tell Him out loud: “Jesus, please forgive my sin. Please come into my life and save me. I realize that nothing I can do will save me but it is only by Your death on the cross. Please come into my life and show me the great purpose that You have for me. Help me to turn away from sin and to live a holy and pleasing life before You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.”

A Nation Divided

When I heard that Amendment 2 passed, I cried. I cried because I lamented all of the lives that would be lost in the name of medical advancement. I was upset that Claire McCaskill won over Jim Talent in the Senate because of the repercussions that our children and their children will have to suffer due to the decisions that she will make. It is very tempting to despair over such things especially when it seems like we are losing battle after battle. The democrats now hold the Senate as well as the House. It’s depressing, really. But strangely, I am not depressed.

Wednesday, November 8, 2006 when I awoke I cried over Amendment 2. However, my sorrow ended with that cry. God’s peace washed over me. He told me that this turn of events was from Him, that He might accomplish His good purpose. As soon as He told me this I quickly became excited. I am excited to see His hand in this unfortunate turn of events. I am excited to see what He will do! I rest fully assured that He is in complete control! I rest knowing that Claire McCaskill and the Democrats are not the victors here. They are in office because God has orchestrated it and He will use it for good.

So I know that God is in control and I also know something else. This country is split right down its very center. So many of the races this past Tuesday were extremely close. McCaskill won with 51% of the vote! That is barely over half! The other half voted for Talent! The same thing happened with Amendment 2. And the Democrats hold the Senate and House but only by a few! Split right down the middle—give or take! This nation is divided. And we all know what the Bible says about a nation that is divided.

Bad Day

So…today is very hard. I started my first “lessons” with my two boys today. It didn’t go as great as I thought it should. Logan wasn’t really interested in his activity. It might have had something to do with the workmen who were here to install a radon mitigation system in our basement. All he wanted to do was stand outside and talk to them. But I couldn’t allow him to bombard these poor unsuspecting strangers with his usual game of 100 questions in ten minutes. Instead, I let him bombard me.

Mom, can I have this? Mom, can I have that? Mom, can I play video games? Mom, can I go outside? But I just want to talk with the workers! Mom, will you play with me? Mom, will you help me put the choo-choo track together? Mom, what’s this? What do you do with it? Why? How come? Mom, I’m hungry! Can I have some candy? When will my lunch be ready? Mom, I’m hungry. After I have lunch, can I have some candy? Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!..........AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and this isn’t even the half of it. And Job has been very whiny all morning. And I just want to pull out my hair! Maybe I would if I didn’t have a headache. It’s not a horrible headache but it’s just enough to cause me added stress.

Also, the ringing in my ear is worse. I’m pretty sure it is because I had so much diet coke last Friday. Ever since, the ringing has become louder. I have Tinnitis in my ears and a partial hearing loss because of it and drinking caffeine irritates it and apparently can make it worse!

On the bright side, we no longer have poisonous radon gas pouring into our home and I was able to share gospel tracks with the two men who came to put in the system! Pretty cool!

Reality Check!

It just crossed my mind yesterday…I am 16 years old. I live an impoverished life in Cuba. My family is desperately in need of food. I run into a gentleman at the market who is in need of women to work as maids in a hotel in the States. He says that with the money that I would make I can support my family. I agree to go over. In total ignorance I am sucked in. For soon I find out that I am not to work in a hotel at all but, rather, I am now one of their new slave prostitutes being smuggled illegally into the country. I have no rights. I am not free. I cannot escape. I am beaten and raped and used.

Now I am 12 years old. I live in Africa. My dad makes 30 dollars a month to provide for our family. Our housing consists of a grass hut and our food of rice. I go to the nearby pond to draw water for drinking. Little do I know that a worm will enter my body. It will nest in my stomach and, at the end of one year, emerge through a blister that will form on my abdomen. The experience will be agonizing and the worm will twist its way through my body and grow up to 3 feet long. It will wrap itself around the muscles in my leg constricting them like a Boa does its prey. I will have to get medical help from the nearby facility run by people from another country. It will take many days of pulling the worm out inch by inch before I will be cured.

Now I am a baby girl in China. I was just born a few days ago! There’s only one problem. My mother doesn’t love me. She doesn’t want me because I’m not a boy. So I am sent to live in an orphanage with hundreds of other girls whose parents don’t love them either. I am small and utterly vulnerable. No one holds me. No one sings to me.
No one loves me. They think I won’t remember. They don’t know how wrong they are. This will scar me for life.

Now I am 26 years old. I live in America. I am a stay-at-home mom. I live in a $150,000 house that has air conditioning, heat, electricity, clean running water. I get to shower every day if I feel like it. I have food galore. I am well educated. I have a soft queen sized bed to sleep in and down pillows in which to sink my head every night. I am rich beyond my wildest dreams and I don’t even know it. I have a wonderful husband who loves and respects me. Sometimes my children drive me crazy. Sometimes I tire of cleaning the same rooms over and over day in and day out. Sometimes I have a bad attitude because I feel that my life is hard and unfair. I gripe and complain when I am having a bad day because things just aren’t going my way.

O how I need a reality check! Or maybe a change of perspective! I gripe and complain like I live in a third world country. I whine like an unloved baby! But nothing could be further from the truth!

The Exile from Eden: God's Gift to Man

How can a good and loving God allow death to reign in this world? This question seems to come up a lot. Why does God let people die? Doesn’t He care? I hear people say they don’t believe in God because if He existed, He wouldn’t allow bad things such as death to occur. God is good, after all. Death is bad. A good God would not allow death which is bad. Therefore, there is no God.

O contraire, ye who hath little understanding of who God is! Consider this: death is actually the best thing that could have happened to man next to Jesus’ saving death on the cross. Here’s why: remember what happened in the Garden of Eden? God gave Adam and Eve permission to eat of any tree in the garden except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of this tree God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat. He said, “When you eat of this tree you shall surely die.” Well, we all know the story. Satan deceived Eve, she ate of the tree and Adam followed. Thus, sin entered the world.

SIN entered the world. Let’s think about that for a minute. Murder. Theft. Vandalism. Hatred. Slander. Gossip. Drunkenness. Adultery. Fornication. Debauchery. Selfishness. Etc. And along with sin came PAIN—the big four letter word. No one likes pain. It is the consequence of sin. Thus, we live in a world filled with sin and lots of pain. This is why God exiled Adam from the garden. Not only did the garden house the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but it also housed another tree, the tree of life. We don’t hear about this tree very often, but it is very important. You see, if Adam and Eve would have eaten of this tree, they would have lived forever and that in their fallen state.

“Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.” Genesis 3:22-24

Death is actually a great act of mercy from our heavenly Father. That He would care enough to not allow us to continue on forever in a world filled with great horrors and heart wrenching pain, speaks to the goodness of the God that He is. God is good. He loves us very much. Therefore, He allows us to die that we may be free from this wretched life. And assuming we have embraced His goodness and loved His good way, we will live forever in the loving arms of our Father and know peace and fulfilling love like we have never known it. If we reject Him, then He allows us to be separated from Him for all eternity. God is more than fair. If we want nothing to do with Him in this life, then He gives us our heart’s desire in the next—eternity without Him.

The Reign of My Heart

A chilling wind breaks over the rolling hill that is my backyard. Rustling the leaves it sways here and there. It is not known where it has come from and it cannot be said where it will go. The overcast sky, while monotonous and uninteresting, has been pouring rain nonstop all day. The rain pours the same with in my soul. I am not particularly fond of days like this when they mirror the condition of my heart.

I am heart sick. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” I wish my heart would stop hoping! How much pain is enough? How much more of the throbbing and the aching must I endure? My mind is fed up! I have had enough!

There is a brokenness inside me, you see. I am all too well acquainted with its symptoms and not at all inclined to say I know its source. Pain and agony is the way and frustration is the game. My mind and my heart just aren’t seeing eye to eye on this one. My mind is ready to be free this instant while my heart wants to keep holding on much like the raccoon who, with his arm caught in the trap, could be free if only he would open his paw and let go of the bait.

But just like the stubborn raccoon who will not let go even though his life depends upon it, so my heart is steadfastly wrapped around an ideal that can never be. No matter what amount of disappointment I experience, no matter how great the affliction, still my heart will not succumb. O how I feel trapped with in myself! The heart’s pull is great and many a time have I been sucked in. I WANT TO BE FREE! This is the cry of my soul! Lord Jesus, have mercy and heal me!

“For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.” Romans 7:14-19

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