Don't Judge Me!

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."   - Hebrews 4:12-13 

I read these verses last night during my quiet time with the Lord, and I encourage you to read these two verses again very carefully.  I've broken it up by phrase below - pause after each phrase and let each one really sink in about what it's saying. 

 "For the word of God is alive and active. 

Sharper than any double-edged sword, 

it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; 

it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.  

Everything is uncovered and laid bare 

before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."   

- Hebrews 4:12-13

There is a trend going around of people saying "don't judge (me)," and for a while now, it has really bothered me whenever I hear a Christian say this.  Usually folks using this phrase are doing so on the heels of doing or saying something that their conscience knows is at the very least questionable.

I'm not talking about times when someone uses this phrase jokingly when it is obvious that they are truly seeking an obedient and loving relationship with the Lord and with their Christian brothers and sisters. Example: You're trying as best you can to be a good steward of the body God gave you. You're trying to lose weight by exercise and diet, but you decide to indulge in a piece of cake or two - "don't judge me" you might jokingly say. Not a big deal.

I think one of the reasons that this "don't judge me" trend bothers me is that it seems to be going hand-in-hand with the trend of "I can do/say whatever I want and everyone needs to be tolerant of it - I think God is fine with whatever I do because I'm a pretty good person. I don't think God cares whether I do this or that. I have a right to this or that. I'm being true to myself."  Both of these trends were born among the lost and then little by little, spread into the Christian community.  Many Christians are living lives that look no different than the lost world (been guilty here many times!) - so how are we supposed to be a light in the darkness?  I'm curious about what our attitude toward God is when we embrace trends like these in our hearts. Any time someone has told me and embraced the things mentioned above, I've never heard them also talk about their relationship with God or quote Scripture to humbly show where they are trying to be obedient to God. Are we being humble toward God and His Righteousness?  Or are we (finite humans, the creation) assuming how we think our infinite God and Creator thinks?  Are we being so presumptuous as to tell God how we think He ought to do things?

If another Christian speaks the Word of God in your life and you find it convicting and uncomfortable, try considering that God is speaking to you using someone else to show you a passage in the Word that you perhaps haven't or won't read for yourself.  Our first inclination is to distrust the person who is the messenger, think they are judging us or don't love us anymore (guilty here!), and oftentimes, we stop trying to pursue a relationship/friendship with that person.  I'm not saying there aren't instances where some folks will abuse the Word of God to manipulate another person - I've experienced this in a terrible way before too, but we all have the capacity to recognize when someone truly loves us and wants God's best for us.  It's unfortunate that we so often ignore the fact that a person really cares and loves us when our toes get stepped on.

My point is that it is often not a human being who is bringing conviction into our hearts, but rather, it is our Holy God who desires a close relationship with us and who cannot co-exist in the presence of sin.  When someone is using mostly the Word of the Lord - Holy Scripture - when talking to you about something and you're starting to feel conviction or uncomfortable, then it is likely the Word of God trying to bring something to light in your heart that God wants to change in you.

As much as the prideful part of ourselves hates it, we cannot tell God "don't judge me."  Yes, Jesus Christ preached love while He walked this Earth, but He was also quite confrontational to those who hardened their hearts, who refused to repent, and who decided that they knew the way to God better than God's own Son, Jesus Christ, whom they denied in their pride (the pharisees, for example).

Other men and women have no power or authority to bring spiritual conviction to your heart - only God has that authority, and He usually does so through His Word:  "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  However, God may use His Word through other vessels to convict our hearts if we are not actively reading the Word of God, not attending a Bible-preaching church (or hardening our hearts against the message if we go), nor exposing ourselves to the Living Word of God in any way.  In these instances, God will often try to reach us in other ways because He loves us.  One way such way is Him giving His Word to us through a friend or family member.  If a loved one brings up Scriptures to talk to you about something that concerns them for you, that most likely doesn't mean that your loved one thinks that they're perfect or self-righteous, but it could mean that God is trying to convict your heart by giving wisdom to your loved one for your sake.  

If we try to hide ourselves from others or make our "relationship with God" private/secret so that we don't have to be vulnerable to others, obedient to God, or face uncomfortable conviction, we would do well to remember that this is only a facade that we believe hides us.  Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned because they were suddenly aware of their sin, nakedness, and unrighteousness, but God still saw them.

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." 

Just as a child doesn't like having to apologize to his brother or sister for something, most folks dislike the word "repentance" because it means you have to step down from your pride and admit you were wrong. Sometimes you have to do this just between you and God, and sometimes you have to do this in front of or to someone else. Christian or non-Christian, whether or not we've tried to avoid "repentance" during our entire time of life on earth, we will all give an account to God one day - nothing is hidden from God.  He desires our utmost love and devotion because He wants us to commune with him!  If we have difficulty with turning our hearts in obedience to the Lord because of our shame and pride, there is still hope in salvation from the Lord and His abundant grace and mercy for those truly ask!  Hebrews 4 ends with the hope we still have in Christ.  :)

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet, he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  - Hebrews 4:14-16