“In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected. For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans. They practice ungodliness and spread false teachings about the Lord. They deprive the hungry of food and give no water to the thirsty.” (Isaiah 32:5-6 NLT)
Isaiah’s vision of Christ’s second coming is a glorious day for which the Church looks sooooo forward! It will be a day of rejoicing and celebration the likes of which mankind has never experienced…IF, we’re ready for it!
The greatest evidence of immaturity in a believer is when we judge another believer. If you can’t stand the “hypocrisy” in another believer, it’s likely because you haven’t seen the hypocrisy in yourself. Tim Keller wrote: Christians need to be neither quick to criticize nor afraid to confront. And both are very needed in the Body of Christ.
My conviction is that criticism and confrontation of another believer should be well prayed through before offered, then ONLY offered in PRIVATE! To publicly criticize or challenge someone – on social media or other electronic means is dangerous and can be very damaging. When we light up our text feeds, Facebook, Instagram, or any of the other public platforms to express our opinion of someone, we will answer to the Lord for that.
When someone has “fallen into sin,” whatever that may look like, rather than “light up” the airways letting all our friends know they should “pray” for them, go to your knees asking the Lord to help, guide, and enable them to find their way. Then contact them personally if you know them and it’s appropriate, and offer support in practical ways, depending on the nature of the “fall.”
A few months after my wife left me, I went to a public gathering for our church organization. A man we had known when we were together, came up to me, He’d obviously heard about the divorce, and asked where my wife was. When I told him we were no longer together, he asked no questions, he just got a disgusting look on his face, turned, and walked away.
He knew only what he’d heard, but not from me. He knew no details or what a devastating effect the divorce had had on me, only that I’d divorced, and “real” Christians didn’t divorce. Needless to say, I didn’t return to many meetings like that – EVER!
We never know what ill-effects our insensitivity can have on a fellow Christ-follower, even if they’re “at fault.” We all need grace, not only from the Lord, but from one another. When our “Christianity” in any way exalts us above a fellow brother or sister, we’ve just illustrated in our attitude and/or behavior, how lacking we really are in Christian maturity.
Jesus washed His Disciples feet, among them the one who would betray Him. Even when Jesus announced that one of them would betray Him, he didn’t point out Judas, except to John after he’d left. Of course, John was clueless until things began to unfold, but by then they’d all scattered like lost sheep.
Please, my brothers and sisters, we must be sensitive to one another, ESPECIALLY when we fail and fall. The last thing I needed when I went through my divorce was someone to tear me down. I was already on the bottom, having torn myself as down as I could get. I needed compassion, love, and forgiveness, not more condemnation.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 
At a previous church that I attended for 19 years, and was an elder of, the lead elder took it upon himself to secretly gather all the other elders together and convinced them that I had done something against him, which I had not done. Instead of confronting me in private, where we could have discussed the matter with civility, he attacked me at the next elders board meeting, with the other elders by his side. In doing this to me, I became enraged and spoke back out of anger to my brothers in Christ. Later I apologized to each one of them for my anger towards them for accusing me of something without cause. I had a medical reason that I became irrationally angry towards them, as I had been on Prednisolone for a few weeks prior which made it very easy for me to get angry. I forgave each of them in person, but not a single one of them ever apologized to me for their false accusations towards me. I quit the elders board the following week, but I stayed on as a member at that church for seven more years because of all the good friends I had there, before I finally found the new great church that I currently attend. If the lead elder had only approached me in private, as would have been Biblically correct to do, we could have worked things out peacefully, without all the anger, resentment and bitterness that resulted from it.
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I’m so sorry you had to go through that very ungodly experience. I feel your pain as I have been betrayed by church leaders as well. 😩
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