Sunday Reading: John 8:12-16
Key Verse: John 8:15
15 You judge after the flesh, I judge no one.
Devotion:
How many times do we look at others and make up our mind about them before we even get to know them? I know that I still do and remind myself that Christ has told us not to every time I do. A good lesson to learn is to try and see yourself as others may see you and then compare that with what you actually know about yourself – how then do we have the right to judge others if we know what we do get up to. Simply put, we don’t! Jesus was without sin and yet He Himself said that He does not judge others for what they are.
If we are willing to bring our faults forward to God and admit to Him that we are the sinners that we are, then He is willing and just to forgive us of those faults. He wants us to be able to live with Him and not to be eternally separated from Him. He wants us to be able to live our lives as an open book with Him, not trying to hide things (because that is impossible anyway) and not trying to cover things up (again impossible). And yet, even though He continues to see and know what we do, He is still willing to put that all behind us when we come to Him in faith.
We are not going to get a certificate to show others that we have been forgiven. We are not going to get a prize for being the most forgiven. We cannot compare ourselves with others because we do not know what others are like inside. What we can do is get to know ourselves better and get to know God better. Getting to know Him better will allow us to be able to be more willing to come forward with more confidence and know that He is on our side, He is behind us, He is in front of us and He will forever be with us as we continue to come to Him in faith. How can we not love our Saviour knowing that He knows us and yet He still wants to know us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you can hide things?
Do you bring things forward to Christ?
