“Cynism makes one forget his own reflections… either that… or it is just a cover up.” I have written this and posted in my facebook after being puzzled over something.
But today, while I was reading Today’s Christian Woman online, I saw an article by Lisa Harper and she explained it really well: I know it’s a long read. But it’s a good reminder, really.
The key distinction between recognizing behavior that’s ungodly and passing judgment on others is the posture of our heart. Are we aware of other people’s mistakes because they trust us and have confided in us, or have we appointed ourselves the “moral police” so as to justify examining blemishes in everyone else’s behavior? Is our ultimate goal to help restore prodigals into a redemptive relationship with Jesus, or do we have a hidden agenda to elevate ourselves by condemning those around us? Be honest now!
What Does God Say About This?
Here are two oft-quoted Scriptures about confronting someone else’s sin:
“If your fellow believer sins against you, go and tell him in private what he did wrong. If he listens to you, you have helped that person to be your brother or sister again. But if he refuses to listen, go to him again and take one or two other people with you. … If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him like a person who does not believe in God or like a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17, NCV).
“If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-3, ESV).
The first passage applies solely to professing Christians and includes disciplinary consequences. The second is gentler in tone and more general in application. And while both examples encourage straightforward dialogue about ungodly behavior, they also clarify the respectful parameters in which those hard conversations should take place.
I think the most compelling lesson about uncovering sin in someone else’s life occurs in John’s Gospel account, when a group of angry deacons shove an adulterous woman in front of Jesus while he’s teaching in the temple courts:
“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her’” (John 8:3-7, ESV).
One simple statement from our Savior left those mean-spirited men—who up until that moment had been hurling insults—mute. His words illuminated their own ugly flaws, which made shaming someone else much less appealing. One by one they dropped their rocks and slunk away.
How Does This Affect Me?
I’ve been confronted twice lately by other Christians. One came from a red-faced stranger who was furious with me for wearing knee-high leather boots with a skirt to her church. She called me a “Jezebel.” The second came from a good friend, who tenderly pointed out my pride in a specific situation.
The name-calling left a bruise on my soul. But the compassionate rebuke turned me back toward the forgiving arms of our heavenly Father. As Christ followers, we’ve got to recognize that God alone has the perfect combination of holiness and mercy to stand in judgment of the human heart.
We must remember the only One worthy of condemning us chose instead to pardon us. Then—in light of our own sinner-saved-by-grace stories—when the Holy Spirit impresses us to confront someone who’s messed up, we’ll do so with honesty, compassion, and humility. Our motive will be one of real restoration instead of self-righteousness.
I have given away a lot of things already. I didn’t wanna take the things we don’t need into our new home. I was telling my son that we have to give away some of his toys to poor children. He asked why? I told him they’re so poor they don’t have money to buy toys. He said: Mommy, I don’t want to give my toys. I asked why. He said: we better give money so they can buy new toys for themselves. LOL. So true. Why would we give them old ones, anyway? Sometimes kids have more logic than their parents.
I notice though that the more we give away things, the more we acquire more. For example, we’re giving away our cassette player but in return, I wanna buy an XBox! LOL.Last year when we went to visit friends for Chinese New Year, we had fun singing karaoke through an xbox. I’m sure my kids would love to have it too.
For the meantime, I will TRY not to accummulate things too much.
Our neighbour’s husband is into real estate. So he knows which house is available for rent or for sale. While walking to our new house yesterday, we bumped into him. Then we found out that the house 3 houses away from us is for sale. But he said it’s hard to find people to buy that house because it is located in front of the TENAGA power house (tenaga is the electricity company in Malaysia). It is Chinese belief that it’s not good to be living in front of any electricity centers – Feng Shui wise. I didn’t know there’s such beliefs. But of course anybody can just believe whatever they want to believe. Real estate agents, of all people, should know all these so they know how to deal with people about selling or renting out a house. I wonder if the Wilmington NC real estate are aware of such beliefs. There are not a lot of Chinese there but there are a lot of people that considers Feng Shui before buying any properties.
I don’t believe in those because I know that “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.”
I just renewed my domain for this year. Its expiry date is only next month (so I have one more month left) but wordpress started giving me notices two months ago. It’s better to be early than be late though. I was not too busy today so I just paid my domain through paypal.
To get a domain from wordpress, you need to pay US$15.oo (or 14.97 no difference). It is slightly more expensive compared to buying a domain from Blogger which is only US$10/year but I don’t mind. As long as I’m doing well with my business online… it’s quite worth the pay.
Hubby’s in Phuket again. He has gone to have a retreat with some friends there. We could have gone with him but I chose not to. The kids missed so much of school because we had been traveling quite a bit for the past first half of the year. I miss Phuket but there’s always next time.
I’m actually waiting for my hubby to get online now. He phoned me this afternoon but it was a brief call. I want to tell him of how the meeting with the kids’ teachers went on today. I hope he can get online. His laptop sometimes has problems with internet connections. Hopefully there’s no problem this time.
It’s all over the news. After 50 years, Michael Jackson’s life had finally reached its end. It was a sudden death, they say. The true cause of his death is still under investigation. Could it be due to medical malpractice? Wrong diagnosis? Wrong treatment? Nobody’s certain for sure.
There’s actually a lot of medical malpractice going on. That’s why there’s the existence of Rochester medical malpractice attorney to help you prepare your case. There are many types of medical malpractice. Some doctors can make mistakes just like that.
Of course I’m not blaming the doctors nor the hospital for MJ’s death. Like I said, the cause of his death is still not certain.
Check out this new released song How He Loves written by John Mark McMillan. Performed in this video by Matt Henchcliffe. You can also hear this song on David Crowder Band’s upcoming release, “Church Music.”
We found some good and pretty curtains at Macy’s in Taipan. We are trying (read my lips – trying) to set up an English living room. So I chose one that’s flowery with shades of limelight, peach and summer heat. That’s our theme color by the way. It looks so sweet. I got it with 50% discount. It was so timely coz it was their last day of sale.
Hubby kept saying it was really God’s favor for us to find the curtain store at just the right time. The 2-panel window curtain was on display. It’s supposed to be on 30% only. But I wanted to get it even if it was only on display and there was no other stock. So I jokingly said, I will buy if you give me more discount. LOL. She actually gave me 50% discoun instead of just 30%. Me and my jokes work well, sometimes.
Our new house is smaller. So it;s quite easy to make it cozy. It’s a good thing that we repainted it. The house we are staying now is all-white. So it’s hard to decorate it. And we didn’t want to do a lot because it is not our own house.
But with our new house, we decided to take charge and went ahead with repainting. The owners didn’t mind. So yes, I am excited to move in to our new house with an English living room. But of course, one can’t expect too much as we have limited budget. So it won’t be that Georgian, or Victorian, or even Edwardian interior design. Just basic English design – full of flowers.
“The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.
For the LORD protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!”
—Psalm 34:19–20
I am getting a daily encouragement for women in my email everyday. I use them for my quiet time… not that I have a daily quiet time. Yes, I plead guilty. I don’t have a regular quiet time. I read the word of God and yet, sometimes, it becomes so routine it’s like reading a novel chapter by chapter everyday. I know I need to work on that.
Daily Encouragement really helps me through my day as most of the times, the words just hit right to the core! God is awesome. He knows when to speak and in which situation. I haven’t installed the Bible Reader in my computer yet. Peter has it in his laptop. The size of my computer memory doesn’t allow me to further do some installations. So I am glad to be getting some encouragements which is sent everyday. Thank God for Christian Woman Today subscription.
Anyways, back to the verse… I believe that we all face troubles… the only difference is that we know that even if we face troubles, there’s always someone to help us through and that we can always trust and depend in His promises.
