by Peggy McIlveene, 4-17-04
www.his-forever.com

You who know me, know that writing is NOT my forte (except in poetry format), but the Lord laid it upon my heart today to write you about a particular issue that I find to be a HUGE problem within the Body of Christ, not to mention detrimental to the work of the Lord... it is the matter of judging one another!

What brought this to mind was reading an article yesterday morning about the times we are living in.  The author (an excellent author, I might add!) was talking about how our morals have collapsed over the last 10, 20 and 30 years, which I totally agree with.  But one thing that really angered me was that he was talking about how some people are on their second and third marriages… of which I am one.  But there are usually extenuating circumstances that others don’t know about!  My first husband was an atheist, who chose to leave, so I was no longer bound to him.  I was 18 when I married him, and had my daughter and eldest son with him.  I was 24 when we divorced.  He was not chosen for me by the Lord at ALL, nor did I seek His face in the matter.  I wanted to get married so I could leave home and do what I wanted, because my parents were very strict… as it SHOULD have been, but 18-year-olds know it all!

I married my second husband when I was 25, mainly because I was trying to support my two children on my own on a VERY meager salary, was not getting child support from their father, and could not get help from the State because I “made too much”!  This was also MY doing, not the Lord’s!  He was a mental abuser, and led me into a very unhealthy lifestyle.  I had my youngest son by him.  After 18 years of marriage, we separated and divorced.

I married Richard at 43.  We are bikers, and had a pretty wild lifestyle.  We did not begin living for Christ until 2002.  The first 6 years we were together, Richard had 6 or 7 major heart attacks (the first one when we’d been together for only 8 months!), was 2 days short of bleeding to death, literally broke his neck, had quadruple bypass, and his doctors found a stationary mass the size of a golf ball behind his breastplate… all of which were miraculously healed!  We determined that the Lord was definitely trying to get our attention… and He certainly did!  All of this, and trying to hold down a full-time (often overtime) job as an Administrative Assistant, just about drove me nuts!  But when you know that only the Living God holds the keys to life and death, and that He is the ONLY one who can decide your fate, you either trust Him to take care of you and of the situation, or you run!  Fortunately, after Richard’s final healing by the Lord, we were so very grateful to Him, we both rededicated our lives to Him, and have not looked back for an instant!  Was it worth having to go through all that?  In the long-run, you BETCHA!!!  We are now both 51, and serving the Lord with GREAT joy and happiness!  Richard is my true soulmate, and I am his!  The Lord has strengthened our marriage, given us great peace in these turbulent times, and blessed us beyond compare!  And it is wonderful to know that He can finally be proud of us!  We are looking for the Rapture and Eternity as never before!  Maranatha, come soon, Lord Jesus!

My point is, though, that the things that we have done in our past and asked forgiveness for have LONG since been forgiven, and God knows the reasons we did them at the time.  What we did before we were walking in the Spirit should not EVEN be a consideration to our fellow brothers and sisters!  The blood of Christ has washed us clean, and to Him, we are as white as snow!  None of us start off being mature Christians, no more than a baby starts off wise in the ways of life.  But as we mature in the Lord, we should become less judgmental of one another!  And we should NEVER forget the things that we’ve done in the past to grieve the Lord, and realize that we are no better than our siblings!

Our focus should not be on what our sister or brother has done in his or her past, or how a sister or brother believes on a particular topic, or how the Lord uses them to witness (i.e., not every one can just go up to a stranger on the street and give them the Gospel story… we all witness as the Lord sees fit, using the talents that He blessed us with!), but it should be on the saving of the lost.  Our focus should be fixed on the spreading of the Gospel and on working together with other true Christians, since indeed we are members of the same Body!

We are exhorted to lift one another up and encourage one another, and most definitely to LOVE one another at ALL times, regardless of what WE perceive to be the truth!  We are to have a forgiving nature, particularly with our brothers or sisters!  Those of us who are walking in the Spirit of God, serve the same God!  If we know that someone has eternal life through the shedding of the blood of the Lamb, and that they have faith in Him, cut them some slack!

I have provided links to two of my earlier poems that I was inspired to write, that deal with this subject.  They are called "Thank God That God Is God" and "My Past Is My Past".  I pray they bless you, and pray this article did, too!

Your eternal sister in Christ!
Peggy McIlveene

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged.  "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?  "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5 )

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.  For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.”  So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.  Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this--not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.  I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (Romans 14:10-14)