Lie: Men should not judge other men.
As I stated in my previous posts, the enemy is a liar. This particular lie has not only permeated the world, but has gotten deep into the body of Christ. Again, he has taken the idea presented in the word of God, that we should not judge unrighteously, and perverted it. Now, it is politically incorrect to judge at all.
When I was in the world, I loved listening to hip-hop and rap music. Tupac was one of my favorites. He had a song called, "Only God Can Judge Me." In that song, he attacked anyone who had ever criticized him, calling them hypocrites. I loved that song because it empowered me to participate in all manner of sin and dare any man to criticize me. This is how the world now looks at judgement.
The power of the lie is not in what it causes us to do. The power of this particular lie is what it causes us not to do. This lie causes men to reamain silent, when we need to speak. That's not so bad, you say. It is the same sin Adam committed. You know, the one that got us all banned from paradise on earth.
We now have a fear of being looked at as judgemental. Judgemental is actually a derrogatory term. The danger is that we say nothing when that brother talks a little to much about the pretty young lady at the office. We see the folly, but we don't point it out. We may bite our toungue when our teenage son is watching a music video that is clearly ungodly. We may choose not to speak when our wife starts spending too much 'family time' on the computer.
You see, to be the men God has called us to be we must speak righetousness into unrighteousness. However, it is incumbant upon us to first establish righteousness in ourselves. The word of God is clear on that. Once we have done that, we must speak God's light into the world's darkness. We have to speak against evil. To do that, we must first be able to discern the difference between goodness and evil. In short, we must judge our loved ones in love and admonish and exhort them in love when neccessary.
Here is the rub. Admonishements should never be done in anger, or to gain self satisfaction. Admonishments should always be done in love. We have to love so deeply that we are willing to anger people by telling them the truth. This means we will never be popular. This means we will never win the Mr. Congenialty award. But how can we love anyone, and silently watch them walk further down the road to hell.
The enemy heaps lies on top of lies. He says that the most important thing is that we have high self esteem. We should build up everyone around us by telling them how wonderful they are. Should we have lofty opinions of ourselves? Aren't we all sinners? Aren't we all wrtetched creatures compared to the standard of the most high? If we value the self esteem of our loved ones, over their salvation, then we will remain silent. If we value thier salvation over their self esteem then we will speak.
In all things, brothers, we should stay prayerful. We need to constantly seek the will of God and pray that our words and actions are conformed to Jesus' example.
