Stone thrower or stone dropper?

You see person curse out the cashier at the grocery store and

you automatically make a judgment call.

You turn your nose up at the man with dirty shoes and torn up shirt.

You criticize the mother who was just released from prison for beating her child.

Let's face it- we all judge. Does it make it right? No. It reminds me of a story...

John 8:1-11 - "But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, ⁴ they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” ⁶ They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. ⁷ But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. ¹⁰ Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]

I love this story. Watching The Bible miniseries part four, inspired me to write this post. I loved it when the Pharisees began to drop their stones, one by one. Jesus proves the point that no one is worthy to judge, only God. He reminds the Pharisees that they are not perfect, but also sin just like the adulteress.

How often are you holding the stone, ready to throw?

What makes us worthy to judge?

Nothing.

So before we pick up a stone, let's remind ourselves that we, too, are not perfect and have no right to judge anyone.

Let's drop our stones, instead of picking them up.

Don't forget to pray for the unreached people group of the day!

God was with me...

I just have to say it's been wayyyyyy too long since I've written.

I've either been busy with work or I've been sick and my brain just hasn't been functioning like usual. Lyme problems.

Anyway, I'm back and I'm hoping to be back more!

My family and I have been watching "The Bible" series on the History channel. Have you seen it?

 

 

via

 

Maybe it's just me, but I've been pretty impressed. It's not like one of those corny Jesus movies where the actors are stiff and the scenery is fake. That's just my opinion though, maybe you would disagree and that's okay!

Anyway, I think that the series has done a good job for us visual learners to actually see the Bible story come alive, BUT I don't think that the series should take place of actually reading the Bible. This TV series is man-made and when things are man-made, flaws are sure to occur. The word of God (Bible) is THE word of God and nothing can get better than that. I hope and pray, however, that this TV series has found it's way to TV screens in the homes of those who are questioning the faith and has awakened a hunger to research more. I know as I was watching last night, I was thinking, "Oh I need to re-read that passage".

 

Last night, as I was watching the story of Samson and Delilah, King Saul, and David come alive, something stood out to me. It was a phrase that was being repeated by the different characters....do you know what it was?

"God was with me."

Whenever there was a discussion about something good such as when Delilah was asking why Samson was so strong, he would reply with... "God is with me"

or

when David went to King Saul with the proof of the 200 Philistines, he stated, "God was with me."

How often do we give the credit to God?

Instead, do we give all the glory to ourselves?

I won't answer for you, but I'll answer for me...

Most of the time, I'll bring glory to myself.

Not proud of it, but it's true.

Maybe you could agree with me.

 

They were so quick to say, "God was with me" and they didn't say it with their head down, kicking dirt, they said it with pride.

Why can't we do the same?

We get a raise at work.

Instead of saying, "I deserved it. I worked so hard for this,"

 why don't we say, "God was with me. He gave me the knowledge I need to do my job" ?

We run a marathon.

Instead of saying, "I trained so hard for this. I'm awesome,"

why don't we say, "God was with me. He gave me the strength and endurance to finish"?

The fact is everything good comes from God.

Not from us. We need God to do good.

James 1:17 says, "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

He is in the business of doing good.

That's just how He rolls or rules (corny, I know).

So when something good happens in our lives, we should give all the credit to God and say "God was with me."

1 Corinthians 1:31 says, "So that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."