A Word for Wednesday #2

James 4:11-12  My friends, don't say cruel things about others! If you do, or if you condemn others, you are condemning God's Law. And if you condemn the Law, you put yourself above the Law and refuse to obey either it or God who gave it. God is our judge, and he can save or destroy us. What right do you have to condemn anyone? 

We need to be careful not to judge other people, no matter who they are, or what they have or have not done, especially our Christian brothers and sisters.  We're all on the same path, but remember not everyone is at the same point in the journey.  Some of you are just starting out; others are further down the road.  We need to remember that we're all headed in the same direction.  We should be encouraging one another, not tearing each other down.  If you're up front, share the view with us, and let us get excited about what God has coming up for us.

One thing I have learned is that nobody does life exactly like me.  We all have our own style.  Let's take baking cookies with my son Caleb as an example.  We made chocolate roll out cookies on Tuesday!  If I was doing it by myself, I would have quickly rolled out the dough to an even thickness.  Cutting the circles out so that they are close together without wasting any dough, and quickly transferring them to the cookie sheet in even rows.  When Caleb does it, he rolls out the dough like a steam roller, there are lumps and divots   The cookie cutter circles were everywhere on the dough, including on top of each other sometimes.  Half the fun is using a spatula to transfer the cookies to the pan and putting them every which way!  In both cases, the cookies got made, and they both tasted great.  In fact, it was hard to tell who made each one once they were done!  

God chooses to make us differently, and at different rates.  Don't expect people to be exactly like you.  Each of us has our own problems and life situations to deal with.  Don't judge someone else's decisions because you don't know what it's like to be in their shoes.  It's easy to say that we would do things differently, but you never know what you'd do in the same circumstance.  Be encouraging and pray for them!

So, let's show ourselves friendly, and let the judging be up to God.