(So, you know how I did that wonderful outline for his topic? Well, I’m looking at it now and can’t for the life of me remember what in the world I was thinking…hmm. Okay, pray that I can remember as I go along and bring this all together in the next few paragraphs!)
Okay – I am no bible scholar – yet at least :-). However, as I look at the entirety of Scripture and what is said there…it says time and again that the law is NOT the thing that saves us from our sin. Verses such as Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:20 & 28 and Galatians 2:16 all talk about how the law is merely a tool, like a mirror, God uses with us to show us our need to have something other than the law to help us out. This does not make the law bad or unnecessary…it simply is not the end-all-be-all of getting us a right relationship with God.
One thing I have enjoyed doing these last months is turning to my eSword software that allows me to look up the Greek & Hebrew words and meanings…and even get some cultural perspective of the words and times on passages from the bible. One version I found in writing this outline was the CJB – the Complete Jewish Bible – had a phenomenal translation of Galatians 2:16-21. Here is the first few verses…and my simple thoughts.
16 …even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands (the law), but through the Messiah Yeshua’s (Jesus’) trusting faithfulness. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah’s trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our legalistic observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, no one will be declared righteous. 17 But if, in seeking to be declared righteous by God through our union with the Messiah, we ourselves are indeed found to be sinners, then is the Messiah an aider and abettor of sin? Heaven forbid! 18 Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor.
The bold/italics is my emphasis here…for I see again Matthew 7:2’s report card analogy. It seems Paul is trying to say that if I decide to use the law in order to judge others…then I myself will be judged by that standard and found to be guilty of not passing the test and failing the class. Going on, Paul states:
19 For it was through letting the Torah (Scripture) speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God. 20 When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me. 21 I do not reject God’s gracious gift; for if the way in which one attains righteousness is through legalism, then the Messiah’s death was pointless.
This last verse, for me, is the the driving home message that is my take-away from all this. That if I try to hold up a report card that others must follow – and therefore that I must follow in order to get it right here and there, now and later…then what in the world is the point of Jesus coming to live on earth? What in the world is the point of him extending grace and love and mercy to all those He came in contact with? Most of all, if all I have to do to get rid of my innate badness in me and to be reconnected with God is to follow a bunch of steps, a set of guidelines….what is the point of Him dying on the cross for me….? I could just do it myself…and you could do it for yourself – and them over there…they could save themselves by following the guidelines. Right?
To me – this is the point of the law in the bible…simply to be a mirror to myself and to you in order to help us see how now matter how hard we try to clean up our outsides and insides…we can never get them as shinny and clean as we would like or as we need. Yet, the good news is we do not have to leave ourselves there, in despair and disrepair – looking at the mirror ….for Jesus has come into the world to save us from having to try to do this on our own. And so now, instead of looking in the mirror and seeing only the yucky – we look in the mirror and see that Jesus stands in place of us – and that he is clean and spotless, good and right…that there is no badness in Him…and that where the tarnish of our yuckiness was just a moment ago reflected back to us – now all we see is the radiant light of hope, joy, love and peace.
I sure hope that makes some kind of sense…for even as I try to wrap my mind around all of this – I admit this Christ thing is still so much of a mystery I do not pretend to fully understand. And it is very hard to write and explain something you do not fully understand…so I pray that you will find some bits of truth in what I write that will help you grasp a picture of what I am trying to share.
HOW ARE WE TO PRACTICE NON-JUDGEMENTALISM?
A very good question to end with, don’t you think? So, I again want to state I am NO expert on this subject, I am not a bible scholar with some kind of degree in interpreting the scriptures. I am simply a person looking for truth and wishing to live a life that will honor God and draw others to Him. These are just my random thoughts and experiences I have lived through and wish to share with y’all.
First, I start with our need to do what Jesus, Paul, James – and God himself says – use the scripture as a mirror to look at ourselves FIRST. When this becomes the habit…meaning a daily practice…then it becomes so evident that the biggest problem in my world is myself – and not my brother or sister over there.
For me, I started with a simple prayer that God would remove the scales from my eyes…show me where I was living with the “wool over my own eyes”…that He would reveal His words to me and help them to be my counselor and my guide. Again, not saying I have perfected this and ever will this side of life…but this simple prayer has certainly helped to loosen the grip of deception that I was living in. The deception that told me every one else in my life was the problem and I really didn’t have that many problems…that I really was a good person and it was just because of my messed up life circumstances that I was living the life I was living. When I stopped living like every one else was the problem…when I realized that living as the victim gave me no control over myself but really kept me in bondage – that is when God was able to begin to do amazing things in my life.
Second, I would encourage you and myself to tear up the report card that we are using for others. Whether it is the thoughts that this person “should” behave this way or that way, wether our friend/spouse/etc. “should” know that I need them right now, or whether that person over there “shouldn’t” do that for it is against the “law”…just tear it up. Get rid of the “should” statements that you entrap others into…allow people to be who they are and to have their own journey without trying to confine them into our need to have them conform to our view of who we think they “should” be.
Note: I learned from David Burns book Feeling Good that should comes from the old English word “to scold”. So any time you tell yourself or others – even if just in your head – that they should do something…you are being that parent that is scolding their kids for being human. Just food for thought!
Again, this takes me back to my thought of not wanting to “
stand in the line” I wrote about a while ago. For I do not want to be what everyone else thinks I “should” be anymore…I do not and will not conform to the ways of this world just so I will be successful by someone else’s standard. So why would I constrict others to be in that line if I am rejecting it?
I ran across an example of this idea from the movie “Dead Poet’s Society” the other day and wanted to share it here…and will let you come up to your own conclusions.
One tool that I have learned from Life Skills is to write a letter to whomever – and often this might be myself – has put this binding rule on my life that keeps me judging others – and inadvertently myself. Life Skills calls these rules Life Commandments (LC)…rules that might have been helpful at one time but no longer serve a purpose and in fact often keep us in bondage.
I encourage you to do some soul searching and ask yourself what LC do you have around this area of judging. Why do you feel the need to judge? What benefit does it bring you? Who did you learn this from? What has living under this LC brought into your life…good and bad? Why do you wish to get rid of it? How do you suppose you get rid of it?
After you have answered these and other questions that come up – simply write a letter to whomever you deem is necessary to write (including yourself) to letting them know in a direct yet humble and non-judging manner that you are writing to let them know you are breaking this LC over your life. Let them know what it has felt like to live under this LC, what it has kept you from, why are you breaking it and what you hope to receive back into your life. Again – the point is not to blame them (including yourself) – but to simply remove the bind that has tied you to this LC….so that you can be free to be who you are created to be. If you are brave enough, find a friend or two to read this letter out loud to – it is an exhilarating experience. BTW – you do NOT have to send this to the person you write it to…unless you feel led…this is simply an exercise to help release you from any bondage you are in. And this exercise can be done anytime you find a LC hanging out in your life that is keeping you down.
Okay – we are almost to the end of this…yeah! For I am ready to get Thanksgiving going tomorrow! Hang in there with me.
Thirdly – Practice extending grace to both yourself and others. Do not be afraid of your failures…but instead see them as learning lessons. I actually decided yesterday to rephrase the word “failure” with the words “learning lessons” for me and my kids. For isn’t that really what failures are – opportunities to look at what we tried to do but did not succeed at so that we can learn from them and try again? I am not sure this is an innate trait in all of us…but do believe all of us can learn to make it a trait if we wish. No one ever learned to walk without falling down sometimes – or in my case many times…and no one learns to live life without “falling” down many times. In fact, some of the most “successful” people in the world have “failed” more times than they can count before they have that one “success”….nothing new there you haven’t heard before…but always good to be reminded.
For this practice…perhaps another letter is in order. Yet, this is one that would be for you from someone important in your life. You could write it as if God was writing you. Write it from His perspective of you, of what you on what you would like to believe about God….and allow the words to seep deep into your soul.
If you do not know God…and have only a judgmental father-figure picture of him….perhaps turn to others in your life and ask them to write you a letter of how they see you. A parent, a coach, a spouse, a friend, a sibling…maybe even your child…but someone that you KNOW believes in you no matter what – unconditionally. If you do not feel comfortable asking them…write me and I will email them for you – or maybe just write you a letter from God for you :-)!
In either case…know that you are a dearly beloved person created in the very image of the most amazing God. That you are created with a purpose, with a most excellent idea in mind…and that God is just waiting for you to discover this about yourself…that He actually delights and rejoices over you and is like an excited kid on Christmas morning just waiting for you to unwrap the present He has given you – that is you for yourself.
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Will you allow Jesus to love on you? |
That you, yes you are so important to God that He did not want you to continue to live with the yucky image of yourself in the mirror…so instead He sent Jesus to come and stand in your place so that he could remove that yuckiness from you through His work on the cross. That when you keep that knowledge of Jesus on the cross in mind daily with the idea that this is where we get our freedom to discover ourselves…you are set truly free from judgement yourself…and set others free from your judgement as well.
Last but not least…when you have rested in the non-judgementalism that is God thru Christ…you are free to go out and Practice Joy in all areas of your life: mind, body and heart. Proclaiming to yourself and others that – no matter what your circumstances are – that you have a big enough God who can take care of the judging for you so you do not have to do it yourself!
Now – go and have a fabulous Thanksgiving!