by: Intern Kriss Fortier
Hello All!!! So I'm kind of new to this whole blogging thing. I mean I used to blog on my MySpace but not on an actually blog website. It's pretty exciting I must say. Well, for starters let me introduce myself. I am currently an intern at Hilltop Community Church, working under the Youth Pastor, Corey Rose. This is one of the best experiences of my life and is fulfilling visions of my purpose I've had since I was a child. I truly love it. However, with the position, I am constantly judging my actions, my words, my emotions, my thoughts, etc to make sure they line up with the Word of God and reflect His mighty power to save and deliver. Last night, I was having a theological discussion with one of my best friends, while we were analyzing our shortcomings and failures. This is very hard to do let me tell you. You're placing yourself in the hot seat in order to change your behavior so that you reflect the essence of God's character. And for some of us, change is a serious cuss word.
Hello All!!! So I'm kind of new to this whole blogging thing. I mean I used to blog on my MySpace but not on an actually blog website. It's pretty exciting I must say. Well, for starters let me introduce myself. I am currently an intern at Hilltop Community Church, working under the Youth Pastor, Corey Rose. This is one of the best experiences of my life and is fulfilling visions of my purpose I've had since I was a child. I truly love it. However, with the position, I am constantly judging my actions, my words, my emotions, my thoughts, etc to make sure they line up with the Word of God and reflect His mighty power to save and deliver. Last night, I was having a theological discussion with one of my best friends, while we were analyzing our shortcomings and failures. This is very hard to do let me tell you. You're placing yourself in the hot seat in order to change your behavior so that you reflect the essence of God's character. And for some of us, change is a serious cuss word.
Anyways, while we were doing this, we began discussing how people in our lives have failed us in being the "perfect" Christian, especially when you hear scriptures like "being perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48, NIV) The preacher we see stand before us on Sunday tells us to "walk in love" in our daily routines, and two days later we see him cussing out some poor old lady (who couldn't see over the steering wheel) for taking the last parking space close to the front. When we were babes in Christ, we would see those that had been "saved, sanctified and Holy Ghost filled" for 15 years, fall apart and get drunk every night because they lost their job and don't have enough money to pay rent and bills. Yes, these are extreme cases, but I'm sure everyone has had that one person you've placed on a pedestal and has failed you one way or another whether you admit it or not. We want those people to be perfect. To be examples that we can admire and say secretly to ourselves, "I don't know if I could EVER be THAT saved." Alas, no human, but Jesus, is perfect. Most of us know this, but we still have the need to look at others. And the more time we spend looking at these folks lives', the less time we spend working on living righteously ourselves. But wait...have we not just judged these people? Have we not just looked at their lives and based on the evidence of their fruits and actions, made a judgment call??
Working with youth, you hear the word "judgmental" a lot. They are constantly asking you to please not judge them and calling you judgmental for not agreeing with their lifestyle. In Matthew 7:1-2, Jesus says "do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others and the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Now let me tell you, it's hard to not judge other's actions, motives, thoughts, etc because it's part of our nature. I know when someone comes to church wearing something extra cute, I make a judgment of their outfit and let them know my verdict. And when someone does something wild and crazy with their hair that is just too much for me, I make my judgment and might tell them to their face what I think. The point is, we all make judgments of everyone and everything everyday of our lives. Whether we want to admit to it or not, we are all judgmental by nature.
If this is true and God knows this, then we would all fall short of this at all times. I don’t believe God would set us up for failure, so the scripture must mean something more. Let’s think about this scripture in terms of a courtroom. In a court room, you have a judge, jury, a defendant, a prosecution, witnesses, and evidence. The job of the prosecution is to show the wrong the defendant is doing or has done and that they should be given proper judgment and sentencing. The defendant is defending themselves to prove there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. The witnesses are there to give information and the evidence is there to prove the defendant innocent or guilty of their crime. The job of the jury is to take into account all the evidence presented before them and make the judgment based on that evidence if the defendant is innocent or guilty. The judge makes the final sentencing and determines the proper, just punishment.
Working with youth, you hear the word "judgmental" a lot. They are constantly asking you to please not judge them and calling you judgmental for not agreeing with their lifestyle. In Matthew 7:1-2, Jesus says "do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others and the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Now let me tell you, it's hard to not judge other's actions, motives, thoughts, etc because it's part of our nature. I know when someone comes to church wearing something extra cute, I make a judgment of their outfit and let them know my verdict. And when someone does something wild and crazy with their hair that is just too much for me, I make my judgment and might tell them to their face what I think. The point is, we all make judgments of everyone and everything everyday of our lives. Whether we want to admit to it or not, we are all judgmental by nature.
If this is true and God knows this, then we would all fall short of this at all times. I don’t believe God would set us up for failure, so the scripture must mean something more. Let’s think about this scripture in terms of a courtroom. In a court room, you have a judge, jury, a defendant, a prosecution, witnesses, and evidence. The job of the prosecution is to show the wrong the defendant is doing or has done and that they should be given proper judgment and sentencing. The defendant is defending themselves to prove there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. The witnesses are there to give information and the evidence is there to prove the defendant innocent or guilty of their crime. The job of the jury is to take into account all the evidence presented before them and make the judgment based on that evidence if the defendant is innocent or guilty. The judge makes the final sentencing and determines the proper, just punishment.
Our evidence in our lives’, are our “fruit”. They are either of the Spirit or of the flesh. I like to think of the Fruit of the Spirit as big plump watermelon, or a fuzzy juicy peach…mmm-mmm. We are trees planted by living waters and as trees; we grow a certain type of fruit. How are you able to tell what kind of tree is growing in your yard?? People, you look at the fruit and say that’s a lemon tree or a pear tree. If an apple tree is growing oranges though, wouldn’t you be a little alarmed?? Confused?? As believers and brothers and sisters in Christ, if our brother or sister is growing in the flesh instead of producing the fruit of the Spirit, should we not make that judgment by the evidence?
God is the ultimate judge. He is the one who will sentence us all. He is just. His laws are perfect. We are not. We cannot be the judge. We can however, be the jury and make the judgment call when the evidence is speaking louder than the voice of the person. We can say they are guilty of such sins and help to restore them. Part of walking in love is being a “juror”, who after has heard the evidence and seen it for themselves, helps their brother or sister in Christ so that they can never be tried for the same sin again. As jurors you don’t handle every case either. You aren’t called to every person’s in the world case. You’re mostly dealing with helping those that are in the family of God. Being a juror is about restoration, not condemnation. You can’t condemn anyone to hell for their lifestyle. When you do that, you’re placing yourself in the seat of God and have created yourself as an idol. I recommend that you don’t do that. That’s hinting at what Jesus is talking about in the scripture. You can’t do the sentencing, but you can make the judgment call with the Word of God as the measure to make sure the trees around you are producing proper fruit. Like lemons. I like lemons.
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