Accept Others By First Accepting Ourselves

One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. But the change in her was evident.

As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children. It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans.

This was when the problems began. You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting.

As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry the pastor's son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be.

He began to speak and his statement was this: "My fiancee's past is not what is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin. Today, you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?" The whole church began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ironically, accepting others begins by accepting ourselves. The first hurdle to jump in healthy human relationships is acceptance of the self—warts and all. Scripture teaches that all of us are made in God’s image; male and female, God has made us all. The 20th century theologian Paul Tillich claims that “faith is the courage to accept acceptance.”

In Romans 14, the believers in Rome were divided over special diets and special days. Some of the members thought it was a sin to eat meat, so they ate only vegetables. Other members thought it a sin not to observe the Jewish holy days. If each Christian had kept his convictions to himself, there would have been no problem, but they began to criticize and judge one another. The one group was sure the other group was not at all spiritual (Romans 14:1-12).

Thomas DeWitt Talmage (19th century American preacher) remarked, “Without exception, the people who have the greatest number of faults are themselves the most merciless in their criticism of others. They spend their lives looking for something lowly rather than something lofty.”

This, unfortunately, is the case when we criticize others. We look at some little matter in another persons’ life and criticize them for it while ignoring a much worse sin in our own life. Before we get too concerned about correcting others, we need to correct ourselves.

If you recall, Jesus warned that “in the same way you judge others, you will be judged” (Matthew 7:2), and also warned of seeing “the speck of sawdust” in another’s eye while missing the plank in our own (Matthew 7:3, Luke 6:41).

Repeatedly, we “see” faults in others because we don’t want to believe anything better about them. And so often we think we have a firsthand view of their shortcomings, when in fact our vision is distorted by our own disease.

Romans 14:10-New Living Translation tells us: “So why do you condemn another Christian? Why do you look down on another Christian? Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgement seat of God.” The judgement seat of Christ is that place where Christians will have their works judged by the Lord. It has nothing to do with our sins, since Christ has paid for them and they can be held against us no more.

So, how does the Christian prepare for the judgement seat of Christ? By making Jesus Christ Lord of his life and faithfully obeying Him. Instead of judging other Christians, we had better judge our own lives and make sure we are ready to meet Christ at the judgement seat.

The fact that our sins will never be brought up against us shouldn't encourage us to disobey God. After all, sin in our lives keeps us from serving Christ as we should, and this means loss of reward.

Paul explained to the sophisticated Roman audience that they did not have to give an account for anyone else but themselves. So they were to make sure that their account would be a good one. He was stressing the principle of Lordship—make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, and let Him be the Lord in the lives of other Christians as well.

Criticizing another person will be called into account at the judgement seat of Christ. We shouldn't be wasting our time criticizing others. If we turn the searchlight within our own hearts, we'll find plenty to keep us humble before the Lord without being occupied with other people.

We'll also have enough to do at the judgement seat of Christ, answering for our own behavior, without worrying about the actions of others. That being said, I think you know what this message all boils down to: "If you don’t want to be judged, then don’t judge others."

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:8-9; 1 John 3:17; Isaiah 11:3; Galatians 6:1; Leviticus 19:15; Matthew 6:33; James 4:11

Prayer: Dear Father, thank you for all that you have done, and please grant me the wisdom to understand life is what I make of it. Amen

Have a blessed weekend!

Jill