 | Did The Devil Make You Do It? |
 |
|
Here Come the Judge!
Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? “Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
‘Here comes the Judge, here comes the Judge. Order in the court cause, here comes the Judge!’ and ‘The Devil made me do it!’ There was a comedian named Flip Wilson who used to strut across the room shucking and jiving saying those two phrases dressed up in a judge’s outfit, pretending to be a judge. I thought he was really funny and I also thought what he said was even funnier. But the words he spoke really hit home when I turned to Christ with my life.
We face a lot of trials and ‘tribs’ (tribulations) today. It doesn’t matter if we are in the church or out of the church, whether we are walking with God or not. The last thing we all need is to be against each other. It is not US against THEM (whoever they are!); it is us (Christian and non Christian) against the devil….and God is the Judge. There are two forces that rule on this earth. One is God and one is Satan. It is good and bad, light and dark, the white hats against the dark hats….. period. There is nothing in between.
What are we doing today when we are judging each other? Who are any of us to judge anyone? I listen today more than I have in my whole life. You would be amazed what you will hear when you just listen. When I started looking to myself first before I started dogging someone else, I found that my life wasn’t all that and a bag of chips and definitely forget it, there was no dip!
Look to yourself before you start casting stones. Are you perfect in your life? Do you gossip? Do you talk about the very people you work with? You play with? What about in your family? Do you smile at them and then talk about them? How are you living on your home front? Do you yell at your husband or your wife? Do you gripe and complain about your children? If you go to church, how about them?
People want to know today why bad things happen to good people. How about ‘judge not lest you be judged?’ When you use your mouth like a two-edged sword against anyone, you have just called down judgment on yourself. Did you know that? Learn to check yourself first. Check your life. Maybe, just maybe, the problem begins with you…..
How about mercy? How merciful has God been with you? How forgiving has God been with you? Folks, we are treading upon God’s turf when we start judging our fellow brothers and sisters. We are in the days when God, I believe, is just sick and tired of religiosity. One hour on Sunday and maybe Sunday night. What about Wednesday? Two or three hours every week is not going to change you. You have to give God your time. It will cost you something to actually change. The change has to begin on the inside though. Most of us, unfortunately, will never experience the fullness of this life because we just don’t have the time. You very well might look great on the outside, but what in the world is going on in the inside?
When you start to spend time with God you don’t have as much time to judge everybody else. You are too busy working on yourself. Did you ever wonder why we can’t come together in one accord? And that is about most things. We are so divided as a people, a nation and a country. We are still too prideful, too judgmental.
Do not take someone else’s word for what is ‘in the word’. Don’t listen to everybody else and what they are saying. You get in the word of God and find out for yourself what is in there. Don’t be mislead. In the days that are in front of us it will be the only protection we have against the wiles of the devil. We will all kneel before out Maker and answer and be judged for everything we have done on this earth. Did you know that? Every idle word will be judged.
There is one judge and one lawgiver ….is it you….or is it God?
Or did the devil make you do it?
Molly
 |
2008, Molly Painter Ministries, Inc.