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hmmhmm
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Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden

 Beware of Criticizing Others - Chambers


Judge not, that you be not judged —Matthew 7:1


Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, "Don’t." The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.

There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5 ). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24 ). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

Chambers


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CHRISTIAN

 2008/8/19 23:51Profile
bonni
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Joined: 2005/8/9
Posts: 100
montana usa

 Re: Beware of Criticizing Others - Chambers

This is so convicting Brother, thank you for posting it, I am going to copy it and hand it out to everyone in the fellowship I am attending.

John Wesley said, "Anytime you feel contempt towards another person, it is a sure sign that you think more highly of yourself than you ought."


Hope your move to Norway went well, I am always encouraged by your posts. God bless you and your family, bonni


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Bonni

 2008/8/20 3:29Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Beware of Criticizing Others - Chambers

Quote:
There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation.

The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us.

I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.





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Mike Balog

 2008/8/20 8:58Profile
Compton
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Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732


 Re:

The other night a young man began to bend my ear with tales of corruption and intrigue at one of the local churches. He described how ostensible men of God were really only after money. How they preferred the wealthy and powerful over the poor and unknown. He listed for me specific instances of character failings in each of the men in leadership; vanity, pride, greed, and favoritism.

As he went on, I sat in stunned silence. At some point he must have noticed my incredulous silence over the appalling revelation. "Getting your eyes opened?" He asked me with some satisfaction.

I was too deep in thought to respond. I wanted to tell him how scandalized I was---not by these men, but by myself. How much he was describing my own heart! Do my eyes need opening to the evil in the world around me? Hardly. I came to Christ because of that very evil in myself.

Oswald Chambers said it best. A mature Christian is not innocent of evil. He is after purity from evil, which is about as far from childish innocence to the sinfulness of man as one can get. Purity is not pleasant inexperience, denial, or naive optimism, but the rugged opposition and overcoming of evil. Overcoming is not without it's humbling scars. And anyone who has by the blood of Christ, faced and seen their own evil, in their own wretched hearts, surely could not be proud over unbuttoning someone else and uncovering another's evil. (Yet I confess, too often, I am just that wretched.)

He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh through a wall, a serpent shall bite him.

Ecclesiastes 10:8

MC


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Mike Compton

 2008/8/20 12:01Profile
hmmhmm
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Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden

 Re: Beware of Criticizing Others - Chambers

More from Chambers;


Jesus did not commit Himself to them . . . , for He knew what was in man —John 2:24-25

Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.

Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.


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CHRISTIAN

 2008/8/20 13:12Profile
Ruach34
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Joined: 2006/2/7
Posts: 296
Beijing

 Re:

Wow, that one hurt, Compton...

Yet, how do we not minimize nor enlarge our wretchedness in the face of our Master, Jesus Christ?

How do we preach the gospel of repentance to men and women who are wretched just like us?

Do we regard ourselves as lower even than the sinner and thus fulfill the Law of God?


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RICH

 2008/8/20 13:24Profile
RobertW
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Joined: 2004/2/12
Posts: 4636
St. Joseph, Missouri

 Re:

When this was originally posted I have kept it near for occasional reflection. Thought we might visit it again today.


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Robert Wurtz II

 2008/11/6 16:48Profile
live4jc
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Joined: 2008/10/2
Posts: 203


 Re: Beware of Criticizing Others - Chambers

Thanks for sharing this, Compton-It strikes, right to the flesh.

This part spoke to me :

“And anyone who has by the blood of Christ, faced and seen their own evil, in their own wretched hearts, surely could not be proud over unbuttoning someone else and uncovering another's evil. (Yet I confess, too often, I am just that wretched.)”

When I read this, the phrase “Lest we forget” came to mind. Normally we associate this phrase with soldiers who defend our country in battle, and how we should never forget the price they paid, in laying down their lives for the rest of us. But this phrase could also be applied to the tendency we (I) have, to be confronted with our sinfulness, when we are brought to Christ’s cross. But then later, we forget the blackness of our hearts, at times when our focus becomes absorbed in the sinfulness of others.

In a sense, “Lest we forget” is a forgetting of the magnitude of what Christ has done for us…by paying the price for OUR sins.



This quote which Bonni posted, also spoke to me :

John Wesley said, "Anytime you feel contempt towards another person, it is a sure sign that you think more highly of yourself than you ought."


I needed this. Praise God for his Spirit's faithfulness, in revealing the sin in our hearts.

In Jesus,
John

 2008/11/6 20:30Profile





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