April 28
Live Unto
the Lord
Romans
14:1—15:6
KEY VERSE: Therefore let us stop
passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any
stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
n
Romans 14:13
Far too
many of us try to justify our judgments of others when we should be using our
energy to make sure we are not putting a stumbling block in another’s way. Even
the fellowship of believers cannot exist long unless we are willing to forgive
and be forgiven, and offer others a second chance.
All of us
have our blind spots. We are all quite capable of making the wrong judgment of
others. We can easily rush to judgment when what appears to us to be true may
not be the whole story.
Take for
example the new pastor who slipped into a children’s Sunday School class to get
to know a teacher and her boys and girls. Sitting in the back of the room he
observed the teacher’s skill in teaching the children to sing. When they sang,
“I raise my hands for Jesus,” the boys and girls raised their hands. When they
sang, “I stand up for Jesus,” they stood up.
All that is
except one little boy on the front row. He was clearly ignoring the teacher’s
instructions. The pastor was bothered by the boy’s refusal to cooperate, so
much that he almost decided to go to the front of the class and straighten the
boy out. Somehow he resisted the impulse.
Later when
he was getting acquainted with the teacher, he mentioned the boy and expressed
his frustration that the child had not participated by raising his hands or
standing as the others did.
The teacher
said, “Oh, you mean Billy. You see, Billy had polio and he is paralyzed. He
cannot move his arms or his legs. His
parents bring him to class every Sunday and he loves it. You should have seen
how he was participating with his eyes!”
That story
troubles me, for I have been that pastor more than once.
What about
you?
While not
all judgments are wrong, most of us can be better used by God as peacemakers
than as fruit inspectors.