Look at Paul

I cannot believe we are halfway through the year.  I heard an add the other day and realized that fall is only two months away..........wow.  Before we know it we all will be back into the Holiday shopping season.  As I was thinking about that, my mind was going over all the holidays we celebrate here in America and Easter came to mind.  This year I saw more people giving Easter credit for what Easter is about, Christ dying for our sins.  In the past it was all about the Easter Bunny so naturally I felt so excited when this year I saw more and more people and businesses giving credit to Easter for being about Christ.

Then I started thinking about Paul.  Paul was highly critical of Christians.  In fact, he openly blasted them until he himself became blind.  This was the only way Christ could reveal himself to him.  In the end, Paul gave up his old ways and faithfully followed Christ.  Others cast out judgement on him because of his past, but he had friends to defend him and as those who did judge him came to know him, they soon realized he was a changed man.

As Christians, we are asked to follow Christ in faith.  We are asked to devote our lives to him, his word, and his ways.  We are asked to minister to others and live in faith that reveals itself to others who do not know this faith.  Earlier this week I challenged you to follow your faith and do more than what most think a "typical" Christian does......go to church, pray, and read the Bible.  We all know it goes way beyond that.  But what about the other side?  What I am talking about?

In life we all are so quick to judge others.  We see this in the news, looking at celebrities and their faults, looking at public figures and their faults, looking at co-workers and gossip that surrounds the office.  Yes, I am going to say this, but it is a sad fact.  In our faith, Christians who claim to be Christians, are the ones who are very quick to judge others...........those that don't live in faith, those that act certain ways, and the list goes on.  Why?  This is not what Christ calls us to do.  Rather, we must give up this judgement side of us.  Sure, it isn't easy.  I still find myself doing it and then quickly praying to stop myself.  It isn't right.  What right do we have to judge others, no matter what the person has done or how they live or act?  It isn't our place.  It is God's place and his place ONLY!!!!  The Bible tells us all sins are equal......so what does it matter to us what the person has done?  Sure, bad things happen in life, but that doesn't mean we can judge.

What we need to do is be a true Christian to these people.  Minister to them without judgement, pray for them (pray for our enemies), assist them out of their troubles and into a better life knowing Christ.  Be open with our arms and our love for them.  It's about LOVE and what LOVE can do for us and others.  Once we really understand the LOVE of Christ and what 1 Corinthians tells us, then we really can start spreading that love to others who really need it.

So my challenge to you is this.  Are you really loving yourself and others, just as Christ did for us?  Christ went on that cross knowing what the ultimate sacrifice is...........he didn't judge anyone, but rather did it for his love for us............so in return, give your love to others without judgement and counsel them into your arms so they may know the true love of Christ.  Only then can we really think about Peace here on Earth.

Pastor Shawn

Shawn Parcells Ministries

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes,what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.