A Note of Encouragement

from Ciloa

People judge by outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7b (NLT)

Crucify him!

Volume XVI, Issue 11

March 14, 2016

One morning I sat at my desk and prepared for the day. "Computer on? Check. Hot coffee? Check. Comfy chair? Check. Network and programs operational? Check." I opened my email.

I normally get a lot of email, and I mean A LOT. But that day my inbox lit up like a Christmas tree. Email after email tumbled onto the screen, each with the same subject---ANDY STANLEY!

Mr. Stanley is Senior Pastor of North Point Community Church, a huge church with a contemporary style. He teaches, speaks, and writes extensively and is much beloved by his congregation.

Had he contracted a terrible disease or, worse, died? But rather than calls for prayer or mourning, the emails expressed outrage over certain comments he had made.

Political candidates? Gender issues? The right to bear arms? The right to arm bears? No, no. His comments were about those who preferred to be in a small church. *

And the angry emails wanted to know what I thought of this man...the kind of person, leader, even Christian he is. They wanted to hear my judgment of him, while freely expressing their own.

After much prayer and pondering, I answered: No, I'm not going to do that and neither should you.

The world delights in judging others. It's everywhere: books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, movies, the Internet. And what do Christians do? We listen. We read. We join in.

It's one thing to disagree with statements or actions, quite another to judge the heart of a person. Dangerous ground there. Wouldn't it be great if Jesus had spoken about this? Oh, wait.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2

The emailers did not know Andy Stanley. They had not attended his church or heard the sermon. And...this is important...they did not know his heart. But they were ready to judge him. I wonder, would they want to be judged by others who know so little about them?

We may disagree with someone, but we must be careful. When we judge a person's heart, we claim to know what only God can see. The easier it is to judge, the more difficult to forgive. And hearts that have no forgiveness cannot encourage or love one another.

Instead, we should...

Encourage one another and build each other up...Respect those who work hard among you...Live in peace...Warn the idle, Encourage the timid, Help the weak, Be patient with everyone...Be kind to each other and to everyone else. 1 Thessalonians 5:11-15

Take care & be God's,

Chuck

* "When I hear adults say, 'Well, I don't like a big church, I like about 200, I want to be able to know everyone,' I say, "You are so stinking selfish. You care nothing about the next generation. All you care about is you and your five friends. You don't care about your kids...anybody else's kids.'"

Since these comments were made (February, 28, 2016), Andy Stanley tweeted the following message: The negative reaction to the clip from last weekend's message is entirely justified. Heck, even I was offended by what I said! I apologize.

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