What I do and accomplish does not make me a Christian, it is what God does in me, what Jesus died for that makes me a Christian. I have no righteousness to boast of... God sees me through the righteousness of Jesus, the Lamb who was slain for my sins. I am but a sinner. Forgiven and redeemed. I ask for His guidance, confess my sins, ask His forgiveness, thank Him for His grace and mercy, hope that I am a light to some, sing His praises, and worship Him to the best of my limited ability. Only He knows how much I believe in Him, how much I love Him, and how much I depend on Him. No one else knows.
I heard Joyce Meyers say that only someone who knows all the facts is qualified to make a judgment. The only one who knows every thought and every action we ever made, and all the good things and bad things that happened to us throughout our lifetime is God. Only He is qualified to judge us. These, of course, are not her exact words, but you get the idea.
Many of our actions, decisions, and reactions are based on things that happened to us as children, as teens, and as adults. My children think they know me, my mother thought she knew me, my husband does too. But no one really knows everything that has influenced me in my lifetime. I probably don't remember a lot of it myself. In all truthfulness, I cannot explain why I have many of my faults and annoying qualities. Why am I sometimes loving, caring, compassionate and kind and other times sarcastic, suspicious, or unkind in thought, word, or deed.
I guess I can't expect others to understand what I do not always understand. I can, however, hope that they not judge my imperfect actions and thoughts and find me lacking as a christian, a disciple of Christ, a child of God. I can hope they love me with a forgiving and Christ-like love.
I pray that I always be led to follow:
Matthew 7 (amp)
1DO NOT judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves.
It always comes back to love.
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