gettin right with GOD

a few weeks ago in church one of our pastors gave a sermon about how individuals feel that they need to "get right with GOD" before they come to HIM. i have been thinking about this and i wonder if the individual is doing it because of GOD, or because of people judging them about their relationship with GOD? guess what it seems to be because of self-righteous christians and not what scripture has told you.

believing in GOD and HIS WORD is not always easy as you learn more about HIM. i have caught myself on numerous occasions becoming obsessed with what GOD has told me to do and not just living. i have caught myself judging harshly of others, when i shouldn't have done that. see that is the trap that at some point most christians do in their journey and the harsh reality is GOD is going to judge you for it - extra hard. to me that's not about faith, that's about trying to control another. see we have to realize that we can only be ourselves and not judge another on how they live their lives. that is a hard lesson to learn.

the simple question to this is "who are we to judge another?" each one of us is a sinner. each one of us has our own demons. where we begin to fail is when we don't have enough humility to lay down our sins and seek forgiveness. sometimes the most humble thing you can do is just say i was wrong whether or not you think you were right. if you are still holding on to the pride of it then you are wrong. with every trial or blessing that we encounter GOD is teaching us something about ourselves and we should be turning to HIM and HIS lessons.

i have trapped myself over the years worrying about what others think of me. i have to stop this and remember who i am. the only individual that i should ever worry about is my husband. one of the best lessons i will be able to teach my children is that they must be who they are - the way GOD made them. that HE loves them just the way they are.

i worry that individuals are not brought to CHRIST because of the judgement of other christians. one of the greatest lessons CHRIST taught us is that only HE has the right to judge on how an individual lives. i pray that we as christians know when we do this and we have enough humility to admit that we wrong. we have been given the gift of salvation by HIS death. all our sins our forgiven.

"HE said to them, you are the ones who justify your-selves in the eyes of men, but GOD knows your hearts. what is highly valued among men is detestable in GOD'S sight." luke 16:13