A Church That Doesn’t JudgeSample

Pronouncing judgement; we all do it. We’re continually busy discovering where we stand in relation to others and whether or not we’re doing everything right. We always have views about matters that we hold in high regard -- often in a higher regard than the relationship between me and them, or our own heart. We secretly think to ourselves, like the Pharisee in Luke 18: “I'm glad I’m not like that (…)”. You can fill in the blank yourself. But why do we do that?

I believe this is a product of the Fall of Adam. We read in Genesis 3 that “their eyes were opened, and they saw that they were naked”. They received in a sense exactly what the devil had promised them: they became aware of good and evil. They became bothered by things that really weren’t issues when they lived in perfect harmony with God, each other and creation. And only one chapter later we see the consequences of this as we read how Cain killed his brother because he felt less than him. We can’t judge good from evil at all. Our views of good and evil are muddied by sin and by our own hearts and minds. That is what the Lord was trying to protect us from, and we still see the consequences every day.

The disciples, who lived with Jesus for three years, did this too. They worried about things like who was the most important and who would sit at Jesus’ left and right hands.

Jesus gives a fantastic answer to this that we may learn from today. It isn’t up to us to carve out our own place, and we certainly can’t earn it. No, this is what Jesus says in Matthew 20:23: “it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

What does this mean for us? That we shouldn’t worry about what we think our place is or should be, but that we should seek the place God has destined for us. And that we shouldn’t strive for a position that doesn’t belong to us, because others too have a position predestined by God.

Have you found out yet what destination God has laid out in your life? Is that what you concern yourself with, or are you still trying to fight for your own place?