Color Blind...

I was sitting in an airport checking emails as I waited in the terminal to board a plane. Sitting across from me was one very energetic little boy, I am guessing 5 or 6 years old, and I begin to pray that God would let me have any seat on the plane other than the one next to him! He was there with his mother who was having a conversation with an older lady sitting next to her. It was clear from the conversation that they were having that they did not know each other as it is also clear that if you have a conversation around me I am probably eves dropping. Anyway the conversation led to the little boy and the mother begin to explain how the little boy was partially color blind. She went on to explain that a couple of years before she had walked into a room where her son had separated a group of balls into smaller groups by color. She was puzzled that all of the reds were together, all the blues were together, but the greens and yellows were combined into one pile. After a few quick tests getting her son to try to separate the greens and yellows she realized that her son had a problem. He was unable to distinguish between the two colors.

I was taught growing that up that there a people in every church who are regular attenders but who don't really have a saving faith in Christ. I tend to treat these people differently. When they mess up I chalk it up to 'their just a goat." If one of my friends who I knew to be a christian does the same things I call him out on it and tell him where he is wrong. I am wrong to do this...

Scripture tells us that there are goats among us who think of themselves as sheep. Jesus says that He will one day separate these two groups. 'HE' will separate, not me, not you, and not us. We are 'color blind' when it comes to looking at the souls of men. We are like that little boy trying to separate the greens and the yellows except that we see some difference in the balls other than the color.

I am not saying that it is wrong to say that a person looks like a goat, I am saying that I think we are to treat a 'goat' just like we treat a 'sheep.' If someone professes faith in Christ that is good enough for us to treat them as a sheep. We sing hymns next to them, we pray with them, we study with them, and we love them like sheep because we are 'color blind' to their souls. I know I am guilty of treating these people that I think are goats differently, are you?

We are told to be a Discerning People...Matt. 7:1-6

"Judge not , that you be not judged"...I think that this first post needs to address the fact that it is right and good for us to distinguish between shepherds, sheep, goats and wolves. While it is right and good this scripture points directly to the fact that humility is a large part of distinguishing.

We live in a time when everyone does what is right in their own mind, and interestingly enough I have heard this verse used to substantiate that thought process. I would like to argue that nothing is further from the truth. Christ does indeed say here that we are not to Judge but this also assumes that we are to discern between right and wrong. At the end of this passage Christ says not to "give to dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs." My question is how are we to know who is a dog or a pig. Also He tells us to remove the speck from our brother's eye, but only after we have noticed the log that is in our own eye. We are to discern between right and wrong with scripture at the foundation of our discernment.

I once watched a television show about these two children who were getting to meet their 'hero.' One was a young boy who had a terminal disease and his hero was Tracy McGrady, an NBA superstar. The other child was a young girl who had lost both of her legs in an accident and her hero was a woman who had also lost both of her legs and competed in the special Olympics (sorry I don't remember her name). Both the woman and Tracy were both very kind and did extraordinary things for the girl and boy respectively, but it was very obvious that Tracy was much more uncomfortable with the situation. You see he never had a terminal illness and as a result he cared for the young boy but he did not understand what he was going through. At the same time the Olympian was very comfortable because she knew exactly what the girl was going through and how hard life was without legs. Can you see this story's application to the text. The woman understand the log that she had and as a result was able to effectively help the little girl. I think this is what Jesus was teaching here, we can't help others until we understand that we too need help!

All of this to say that my posts in this blog are going to be straight forward and honest. I may say some things that seem harsh but I hope to do so with a tone of humbleness. I hope that if you disagree that you will leave a comment so that we may sharpen each other as iron. If you agree with something also please leave comment so that I may be encouraged to continue posting. God bless,