Grace instead of judgement

It's a on going debate to whether we as humans should judge people or not. (I say the word 'people' because the conversation involves judging Christians and non Christians alike). I would normally just brush this topic off my mind, and get on with life. But this time my whole being got frustrated. I couldn't budge it from my mind. So I took the opportunity to dig deeper, and look into the definition of judgement and judging others. Which I've never done before. And too my surprise, the answer I got was..
Definition of judgement 
-discernment, awareness, perception and so on
Definition of judging someone
- to quickly form a bias and/or personal opinion about someone or something. 
Bear this in mind as we go on with the rest of this blog.

While pondering on the whole idea of judging others and making a judgement to whether one is going to heaven or hell, God brought to my attention the word 'Grace' so I accepted the chance to study grace and did some research of my own, as well as remembering the times God showed grace in my life.

During my research I stumbled on a quote which says: Grace, then, is not a third thing or substance mediating between God and sinners, but is Jesus Christ in redeeming action. Well reading this sent a ripple affect during my study time with God. Because Jesus's redeeming act was being crucified on the cross so everyone has a chance to get salvation, should they accept and believe in what he did for them. Jesus dying for sin to be washed clean was no mistake, it was Gods perfect plan for his grace in action.

John 3:16
God so loved the world, that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

So I ask you: do you deserve grace? Has your past resembled a person deserving grace? I know mine doesn't. But we'll go into that in a moment. So I ask you, does God give you grace? The answer is; He sure does. So; if God gives us grace yet we don't deserve it. Why are we as individuals arguing/debating whether we can judge someone. There is nothing wrong with having a discernment on someone (which as we saw before was a definition of judgement) that in itself is a gift from God, which the holy spirit gives us. But this in no means says we should condemn a person. We weren't made to change people, its humanly impossible. Especially when in our nature we rebelled and become stubborn when anyone attempt to correct or criticises our actions or thoughts and dreams. We naturally go to the people who give us what we want or tell us what we want to hear. Giving someone grace over judging isn't a skill that comes naturally unfortunately. It is something that takes work and effort. Because naturally when we get hurt we want justice to come crashing down on them and pain to be the payment. We want them to hurt just like we got hurt. I have never come across a person who doesn't naturally want revenge. But I have experienced grace. What Is grace? Grace is forgiveness, it is perseverance. This is just a couple examples but it is enough to associate with our lives.

How have you experienced grace in your life?

My testimony
It never gets tiring to tell of what God has done, and believe me when I tell you, he showed masses of grace in this particular time in my life. I used to be so ashamed of it. Whereas now, I don't hesitate. Yes it makes people pull faces of sheer shock but it is a beautiful moment of God's extended hand of grace. Anyway, in 2011 myself and my husband got married. On our honey moon we went to Crete. During our honeymoon we like all couples argued. This particular argument was out of control. I went to the balcony to calm down. You see when I'm angry its best to let me go and calm down so I can talk it through with you later. But at this particular moment my husband didn't know that, well let's say he was still learning. Our room was on the top floor and the balcony was only big enough for one chair, maybe two if you didn't need to get up. So because my husband followed me out onto the balcony, out of pure rage I pushed him. Not fully comprehending how hard I pushed him. This push was enough to cause his body to start going over the banister and his feet lifted off the ground and was in mid air. But by the grace of God, he pushed my husband's body back over the railing and onto his feet. Praise God. It was the most awesome yet terrifying thing I'd had ever encountered in my life. You see God knows our hearts and he knew I didn't do it intentionally. Although it wasn't until about two years ago did I realise the grace God had on my life during our honey moon. Because God could of just let my husband fall and die and I would of gone to jail. But instead he saved both mine and my husband's life, and here we are to this day with four beautiful daughters. Hallelujah.

Moving on...

Let's look into the bible on this topic of grace, in John 3:44 it reads, 'Just as moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so the son of man must be lifted up.' Wow.. let's read into this verse. You see Moses's staff was used to turn into a snake as a sign of gods divine power and judgement; and as he lifted this staff up to the heavens yet over the waters, God separated the waters so the Israelites could walk out their deliverance. And years later (how many I don't know) Christ was crucified on a cross pinning all the worlds sin to it... you see, if you remember the story of creation, where the devil came to Eve as a snake and persuaded her to go against Gods will. Now go back to the staff of moses which turned into a snake as a warning sign of Gods wrath and judgement. But Christ died on the cross to finalise God's promise of grace, ending the curse brought into this world through sin influenced by the snake himself (the devil) after the cross the curtain tore in two just like the water parted in the story of moses, allowing us safe passage to God.  Hallelujah. The bible isn't just a book of random stories. It's a beautiful jigsaw, where bit by bit, piece by piece they slot together to make the glorious picture of Gods Amazing grace

His grace is enough.. when you dive deeper into the pool on his grace, the burden of judging others gets easier and easier to stop..

Has anyone told you today that you are loved. If you were the only person on earth Christ would still have died for you. You are his precious child. He loves you fondly.  Now let's extend that grace and love to those around us, whether they deserve it or not. When you find it difficult, which we do an will, God is always there to listen and help.

Let's pray
Father thank you for the grace we read about in your word. Thank you for the grace you've given us in our lives. God it's not easy to extend a hand of love and grace, especially to those you don't deserve it and purposely go out their way to hurt us. Help us to understand and comprehend the grace and love you have towards us so we can extend it to those in our lives. It is so easy to want revenge instead of giving forgiveness. But remembering what Christ did for us even though we don't deserve it, how can we judge someone and not show grace. Lord we don't know what goes on in peoples lives, so stir our hearts to pray for others and leave the results up to you. You are the judge not us. In Jesus name amen