The Greatest Judge Of Your Life Will Never Be You

1 Corinthians Chapter 4:1-5

This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

Who is the greatest judge of your life? Have you judged yourself, and if so, why did you judge your own actions? In God's word, we see that we have an obligation to follow in the steps of Jesus and to pursue a righteous life. We cannot live righteously without the help of the Holy Spirit directing our thoughts and actions in a loving and fatherly way. It is not our fault that we were born into a fallen world, but we do have the responsibility to live for Jesus and to believe in His word.

Now, the apostle Paul never judged himself, he simply obeyed the Word of the Lord and lived His life righteously. Living righteously does not mean that he was perfect or innocent, it means that He chose to live His life for Jesus Christ, the One who died for him on a wooden cross and who sacrificed Himself for our sins.

We will never be perfect as we live this life right now - we hope for a better future where we will live in God's presence forever, in love, peace and joy with of our loved ones and the family of God. He requires us to desire more than what the world can give, we need to pursue love, peace and joy with all of our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.

We are not to judge ourselves. How could we possibly judge ourselves when we actually do not understand many of the motives of our hearts? We do things that we know are not right or that will probably cause us pain in the future and we do it anyway. We are fallen human beings with the spark of the Living God in our spirits. We cannot possibly understand the world, the universe, or even our own motivations without applying the Word of God to our circumstances, and we will not be able to understand the word of God without the help of the Holy Spirit.

There is only one person who can judge our life and our actions, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. He understands everything that we have done and all of our motivations. He will show us why we do the things that we do, and He will give us the ability to rise above our faults and weaknesses. 

Understand you who are in Jesus Christ. Love yourself as the Lord has shown His love to you. Forgive yourself for not being 'perfect'. The devil will give you an updated blow by blow report on what you have done wrong in your life. You have already been judged by those who do not know you or care about you, but God does not have a quarrel or a greivance with anyone who has accepted His Son, Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. In fact, He is admiring you for choosing to follow His Son, Jesus, and He loves that you live the Word of God daily in all of your thoughts and actions. 

He knows that you are not perfect. He knows that you may feel anger or fear, lust or greed, jealously and doubt from time to time. It would be imposssible not to feel some pain or anguish as you live for the Lord. The best thing that you can do is to give all that pain and suffering to Jesus Christ so that He can heal your heart and give you peace and joy in exchange for your ashes...

The worst thing that you can do is to judge yourself or to accept the advice of other people unless they have the Spirit of God in their own hearts. People who live for Jesus will never criticize you to make themselves seem more important in the world's eyes. People who love Jesus will help you and they will not tear you down publicly. This is why you need to seek God's advice on what you should do in your life and on what you have already done. He can give you an unbiased and loving assessment of your true motives in every situation.

Trust the Lord and avoid judging yourself or other people, and you will be able see clearly God's motive for loving you and His motive for giving His Kingdom to His dear Son, Jesus Christ...

The Church Belongs To God

 1 Corinthians chapter 3:3-4/20-23

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?  Are you not acting like mere humans?  For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours,  whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

Sometimes we tend to forget who owns the Church of God. Believers go to church and then participate in a church service in a building that was set aside for special services, but the building is not the Body of Christ - We are the Body of Christ.

Who was it who sacrified Himself on the Cross so that our sins would be atoned for by His own Blood? He cared about us so much that He allowed Himself to be born and to be seen as a mere man, a humble servant for His Father in Heaven.  He loved us enough to suffer the shame of sin and death so that one day we would be able to live eternally with Him.

We enjoy listening to great sermons, we enjoy singing worship songs, and we love to spend time in our places of worship, but the Chruch of God is not confined to any building. The Church of God is everywhere. Wherever you can find two or more people that are worshiping or praying together, that is the Church of God

Your pastor does not own you - no pastor, evangelist, minister or speaker can claim to have saved you. It was the Holy Spirit that knocked upon the door of your heart and offered you the sweet gift of salvation that you accepted once you confessed the Lord Jesus christ as your personal Lord and Savior. The Church of God belongs to Jesus Christ!

No church or denomination can claim any believer. Your pastor, ministers and priests are the servants of the Lord, and the most important task they have is to give you to Jesus so that He can change your life. They should point you to the way of salvation and to the word of God. You have the responsibility to accept God's gift of salvation and to love Jesus Christ with all of your heart and mind. You are responsible to allow the Holy Spirit to change you and to read the Word of God. His love will help you to love yourself and to love the people in your life.

Do not worship the leaders of your church. You should love them and be kind to them because they have a difficult job as God's servants. They will keep giving until that have nothing left to give, so pray for them and help them if they need your assistance. The people of God need to grow spiritually by prayer and worship, but also we must trust the Lord to show us what we can do for Him and He will give us the confidence and the strength to stand for His standards and His word.