For the past couple months I, along with many of the missionary ladies here in Togo, have been working through Beth Moore’s Study of James, Mercy Triumphs. As I come to the end she asks the question that gets down to the nitty gritty of life after studies like these; now what? What am I going to take away from the study of James that is going to result in change in my life? I don’t want to be like the person who looks in a mirror, seeing her hair and make-up are totally a mess, then walk away and forgets what she saw! (James 1:23-25) I don’t want to walk away a mess; I want to change. I’ve learned many truths and been reminded of many others. But, the one that stands out the most comes from James 4:11-12.
“Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the One who is able to save and destroy; but who are you to judge your neighbor?”
In Max Lucado’s children’s book Punchinello, Max tells the story of a village of wooden people called Wemmicks, created by Eli, the wise creator. In the little town the Wemmicks have acquired stickers in the shapes of grey dots and gold stars. They spend their days judging one another and giving each other grey dots for negative judgements and gold stars for positive judgements. The Wemmicks begin to be either lonely and sad or prideful depending on the stickers they’ve accumulated. One little Wemmick named Punchinello had been given so many grey dots he did not even want to go outside, until he met Lucia. Lucia is a Wemmick unlike any he’d ever met. She didn’t have any stickers! Other Wemmicks had tried to stick stickers on her, but they wouldn’t stick. It turns out Lucia had met the creator, named Eli, and spent time with him every day. Because of here constant contact with Eli, she came to realize that his was the only opinion that mattered; and he loved her and thought she was something very special. So, Punchinello decided to meet the creator as well. Although he was afraid at first, Punchinello followed Lucia’s directions and went to Eli’s home. It turns out that Eli had been waiting for Punchinello to come and was delighted to see him. Punchinello learns during his visit that he too is loved by his creator. He also learns that the creator does not make mistakes and so Punchinello was exactly what the Eli meant him to be, and Eli thought Punchinello was something really special. Eli explained that the stickers would only stick if Punchinello let them. He encouraged Punchinello to come to see him every day so that Eli could remind him how much he loved him. Then, as Punchinello began to trust the love of Eli, the stickers would began to fall off.
Although we humans do not have literal stickers to proclaim our judgements of one another, we do judge just the same. Every day all day we make judgements of one another of all sorts.
appearance, church attendance, church activities, size of home, how many cars (and are they all clean??), creativity, efficiency in work, giftedness, skills at work, parenting, priorities, vacation choices, and on...and on...and on. We judge each other up to heavenly realms or to earthly scum, until when we look at each other all we can see is the judgements.
James tells us that if we judge one another we become a judge of the law rather than a doer of the law. What is this law? James calls it the “Royal Law” in 2:1. He says, “If you are fulfilling the royal law according to scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.”
How can we not judge when our flaws are so evident every single day? The fact is we are all hopelessly flawed. But that is why Jesus died for us! He died to take our sins, our flaws, and leave us His righteousness. Every day mercy triumphs when God looks at me and sees the righteousness of Jesus rather than my sin. That is what God sees in us, so why can’t we see that in one another? Oh to be free from the temptation to judge and the constant worry about the judgements of others. Oh that mercy would triumph in us so we could be free to offer one another love and grace rather than judgements.
I want to spend time with my creator every day and let Him remind me how much He loves me. I want to get to a place where I trust his love so much that what others think of me doesn’t matter at all. I want to be so covered in His Love that the stars and the dots slide right off. I want neither depression nor pride...all I want is Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment