"Don't judge me..."

I was chatting with my roommate this morning and I think we both came to a pretty awesome revelation.

We were having this conversation about how Christians are mostly categorized as judgemental and closed minded and how extremely frustrating it is to have to battle that perception. It's like, you have to break that stereotype of the "judgemental Christian" before you even begin to try to have a positive conversation about the Gospel....and then it hit me....

Jesus spoke the truth, and spoke it BLUNTLY, but was never...ever...ever accused of being judgemental. Isn't that interesting? God in the flesh, the sinless man, the One person who's ever walked the earth and had a RIGHT to be judgemental was never accused of being such. In fact, it was the opposite. He was accused of being a friend of sinners by the so called religious. (Matthew 9:10) He ate with tax collectors, the most hated (and crooked) group of people in society. He had mercy on an adulteress caught in the act, and saved her from being toned to death. (John 8:2-11) So why and HOW is that Christians, the people that are supposed to be LIKE CHRIST, categorized as judgemental? What are missing? What is it about Jesus' ministry that we're not getting???

Jesus met needs.

Wow....is it really that simple?

Man, did it sink in this morning. I understand why the non-religious get upset when they see people preaching on the street. It is WAY too easy, to stand on a soap box (literally and figuratively) and speak the Gospel. It's a whole 'nother story to actually LIVE the gospel, get INVESTED in the lives of the people you're trying to reach, and meet their life needs. That right there, takes TIME. ENERGY. And usually MONEY. And ironically, the majority of Christians today are not doing that.

Jesus is serious about meeting needs. Look at this:

 Matthew 25:31-45
  ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
   ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
   ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
   ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
   ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
   ⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
   ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

That's....heavy.

Perhaps the next time someone says to a Christian, 'You're closed minded" or "Stop judging me", rather than getting upset and pitying ourselves, maybe we (Christians) should seriously stop and take a close evaluation to see if they're right. If I was to be honest with myself, the majority of the time I have NOT met a need, is because I was being self righteous. Or another word for it....JUDGEMENTAL.

Luke 18:9-14
 ⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
   ¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
   ¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

I had that "sinking" feeling after reading this passage today. Honestly...I had to repent. I've prayed prayers along the vein of "Lord thank you that I've lived like this and not that."....are you kidding me? How arrogant is that! That IS being judgemental!!! First of all, in comparison to who GOD is, I haven't lived righteously. Not even close. It's God's GRACE that has kept me and nothing else! That self righteousness keeps us from meeting the needs of those that need God the most.

So they next time you're in a religious debate, rather than arguing why your view point is right and there's is wrong, perhaps you should end the conversation and make an effort to meet a need that person may actually care about. THEN, they may be willing to listen to at least half of what you have to say about Jesus. 

Til next time.