"I Don't Judge Nobody."
Published by Korey Buchanek under on 9:56 AM
April 2, 2012
I had dinner the other night with a guy that made the statement, "I don't judge nobody." That statement stuck in my mind for a few days as I asked myself the question, "How often do I really judge others in my everyday life?" Today as I was reading in the book of Judges, without realizing it, I answered that question in my heart with unsettling clarity. The Word revealed that I have a tendency to frequently gauge my place before God in accordance with how God viewed people of status in scripture. What I mean by that is simple. I think I'm better than people, well, not better than them, I just think God loves me more. That's messed up, right?
Well, today I was reading about Sampson in Judges 13-16. Here Sampson's life is chronicled from his birth to his death in just three chapters. But these three chapters are full of excerpts that were pivotal life moments. Monumental moments that I might just pass over if I were in a hurry to read through this book. These moments clarify his calling as a Nazirite, they detail his lifestyle as a womanizer, they capture his anger and they point to his pride and arrogance as a man of great strength. He marries a Philistine women against the wishes of his parents. He spends the night with a harlot in Gaza after his wife dies. He burns the crops of the Philistines by catching three hundred foxes, and taking a torch, and then he turned the foxes tail to tail while putting the torch in the middle between the two tails. This is anger at its finest. He allows Delilah, another women he's just sleeping with, to deceive him. He willing placed himself in a place of temptation and he ends up giving up his secret to his God given strength after she lies to him three times. His arogance puts him in a place that ultimately led to his capture, torture and death by his own hands.
So much to talk about there, but the bottom line came in the last verse of chapter sixteen. Judges 16:31 "Then his brothers and all his father's household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years." What? Did that just say he had judged Israel for twenty years? I didn't read anything about him judging the people of Israel. I read three chapters about a guy that lived a pitiful lifestyle and allowed his poor choices to ultimately place him in captivity... Then I heard it clearly, "So you think you're better than him?" If I'm going to be honest in my writing I have to say that my answer was way to quick..."Yes". If God used him than I'm gold! I flipped through all my life choices that I've propped myself up with to make me feel superior and said I'm better than him. Then God showed up like he normally does and said, "Not on your best day are you worth more than a pile of minstrel rages in my sight." Today I was reminded of the power of God's grace. My life apart from Christ is worthless. It's Christ in me that gives me my worth as His adopted child. Through the redeeming message of Christ on the cross I find my place of humility and brokenness before a Holy God that desires to use my broken pieces to bring Him glory. In Christ alone...
Father, I'm pretty messed up most of the time. I want to say thank you for caring enough about this broken creature to usher me into your Kingdom through Your saving grace. It's by the price of Your Son that forgiveness gives me any hope in this crazy messed up thing called life. I ask today that You give me a Christ like lens to view this world around me. Break this judgemental spirit in me that creeps in more than I care to admit. Help me today to recognize my place in You. Father, I love You.
I had dinner the other night with a guy that made the statement, "I don't judge nobody." That statement stuck in my mind for a few days as I asked myself the question, "How often do I really judge others in my everyday life?" Today as I was reading in the book of Judges, without realizing it, I answered that question in my heart with unsettling clarity. The Word revealed that I have a tendency to frequently gauge my place before God in accordance with how God viewed people of status in scripture. What I mean by that is simple. I think I'm better than people, well, not better than them, I just think God loves me more. That's messed up, right?
Well, today I was reading about Sampson in Judges 13-16. Here Sampson's life is chronicled from his birth to his death in just three chapters. But these three chapters are full of excerpts that were pivotal life moments. Monumental moments that I might just pass over if I were in a hurry to read through this book. These moments clarify his calling as a Nazirite, they detail his lifestyle as a womanizer, they capture his anger and they point to his pride and arrogance as a man of great strength. He marries a Philistine women against the wishes of his parents. He spends the night with a harlot in Gaza after his wife dies. He burns the crops of the Philistines by catching three hundred foxes, and taking a torch, and then he turned the foxes tail to tail while putting the torch in the middle between the two tails. This is anger at its finest. He allows Delilah, another women he's just sleeping with, to deceive him. He willing placed himself in a place of temptation and he ends up giving up his secret to his God given strength after she lies to him three times. His arogance puts him in a place that ultimately led to his capture, torture and death by his own hands.
So much to talk about there, but the bottom line came in the last verse of chapter sixteen. Judges 16:31 "Then his brothers and all his father's household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years." What? Did that just say he had judged Israel for twenty years? I didn't read anything about him judging the people of Israel. I read three chapters about a guy that lived a pitiful lifestyle and allowed his poor choices to ultimately place him in captivity... Then I heard it clearly, "So you think you're better than him?" If I'm going to be honest in my writing I have to say that my answer was way to quick..."Yes". If God used him than I'm gold! I flipped through all my life choices that I've propped myself up with to make me feel superior and said I'm better than him. Then God showed up like he normally does and said, "Not on your best day are you worth more than a pile of minstrel rages in my sight." Today I was reminded of the power of God's grace. My life apart from Christ is worthless. It's Christ in me that gives me my worth as His adopted child. Through the redeeming message of Christ on the cross I find my place of humility and brokenness before a Holy God that desires to use my broken pieces to bring Him glory. In Christ alone...
Father, I'm pretty messed up most of the time. I want to say thank you for caring enough about this broken creature to usher me into your Kingdom through Your saving grace. It's by the price of Your Son that forgiveness gives me any hope in this crazy messed up thing called life. I ask today that You give me a Christ like lens to view this world around me. Break this judgemental spirit in me that creeps in more than I care to admit. Help me today to recognize my place in You. Father, I love You.
1 comments:
I get to be married to you. So thankful to have a husband who listens to the Lord.
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