Ask God for grace to major on love and not on judgment

29th October 2013

Beloved,

FOCUS:  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more (John 8:10-11).

His life has been full of troubles over the past few months due to the choices he made. Not only did he walk out on the father, he joined himself to riotous people. In no time the royalty in him was reduced to a beggar. He was so low to the extent that the foods served to pigs were considered good for him. And suddenly he remembered home, and his father.  “ I have been disobedient but I am still a son”. What a thought! As he walked home filthy and guilty, he rehearsed in his mind what his opening statement to the father will be. It is interesting that it did not occur to him that the father could of his own will, decide not to take him. What a confidence; a confidence in the love of the father! He knew and believed the love that his father had for him, and therefore had no torment because fear was cast out (1 John 4:16). How much confident do you have in the love of the father (God) for you? This love does not reject anyone.  This love encourages us to boldly come to him in order to obtain mercy no matter what we may have done (Hebrews 4:16).    

The interaction that the prodigal son had with the father when he got home was very revealing (Luke 15:11-32). While he was interested in highlighting his own errors and what he deserved, his father on the other hand was desperate to make him comfortable. The father was eager to celebrate the value of his son; value born out of his decision and not based on what the son did.  Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life (Isaiah 43:4). The older brother of the prodigal son had a different mindset. He accused the father and his brother, and reminded the father of all the bad things the brother did. In fact as far as he was concerned, the boy was the father’s son, and not his brother.

You can see clearly the two types of hearts.  There is the heart of love that is interested in mercy, comfort and forgiveness, and the heart that highlights and emphasizes faults, judgment and condemnation. When I had an understanding of Romans 5:8  [But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us], it dawn on me that God was ready to lose Christ for nothing because of love.  What if no one believed? Did you see that Christ died while we were yet sinners? It was not that we were good and ready to come to him. What an awesome love!

Those folks confronted Jesus. It was so obvious and there were witnesses to the lady’s sin. The law said she ought to die, and the law must be fulfilled. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground. What do you think he was in his mind? The woman sinned and the law must be obeyed, but there is something weightier: the need for the woman to experience love. To Jesus that trumps everything. There must be a way to set her free. “Father, help me”! And bang, the wisdom came. ‘Let him that has never sinned cast the first stone’. Note that the primary goal of Jesus was to free the woman and what he told the woman was revealing. “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more”. The woman did not confess; she did not repent; she did not promise not to do whatever she did again but yet Jesus did not condemn her (John 8:1-11). What a love!

The time has come for us to lay less emphasis on people’s errors. Should we condone evil? I did not say that but the Psalmist said: If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand(Psalms 130:3)? We should look for ways to free people instead of condemning them. Give them benefit of doubts. We should love people. We can love like God because the love of God is shade abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5). Enough of the judgments! We have judged our spouses for too long; we have judged our children enough; we have judged our colleagues so much. We should rather have mercy than sacrifice (Matthew 9:13).

I found out something else. Faith stops the enemy and deprives the world of the power to hurt us (Ephesians 6:16; 1 John 5:4). So faith is a weapon of war but love is the instrument of dominion. With love you do not fight; you dominate. How do I know that? Read the account in Job 29:1-25. Why did Job dominate?  Here it is: I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.  I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.  And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth (Job 29:15-17). He was in charge!

1 Corinthians 13:13 said And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Friend, the greatest is love! Love is far greater than faith.

Ask God for grace to major on love and not on judgment!

God shall crown 2013 with his goodness for you in the name of Jesus Christ

Shalom

Brother Godwin Enwere

Elder at Temple of Praise Geneva