Today's reading: 1 Corinthians 5-6
"It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning." 1 Corinthians 5:12 NLT
It's the age-old topic of debate among Christians and non-Christians alike--to judge or not to judge.
We've told ourselves we're not the judge or jury so many times we've come to believe it. And yet, God's Word says otherwise.
We're to be examining the lives of those in our pews. We're to be holding accountable those who say they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We're to be watching the words and actions of those who claim association with God, to see if they line up with His Word, His instructions, His ways.
If not?
If not, we're going to let sin run un-checked in our churches, in our homes and in our country.
If I claim I'm Him, then I submit to being under the scrutiny of other followers of Christ. If I claim to have accepted His blood and His forgiveness, I'm to be held to higher standards and greater expectations than one who doesn't.
That goes for you, too.
Does it not fill our hearts with a thrilling excitement to think that the costly disciplines and lonely agonies that make up our earthly discipleship may at any moment, and without any warning, be transformed into everlasting splendors the like of which we can scarcely conceive, let alone understand?
James Phillip
