Judge Not?

My hubby and I were coming home from a trip to Las Vegas.. He had surprised me for my 30th birthday... My hubs has played in a band for 18 of the 20 years of our marriage. Back then he had longer hair...actually, more of a very long mullet at that time which makes this story even funnier, I think.

So, we were getting off the plane and a guy came to us to "witness" to us...share his faith in God. We listened to him, because we're both pretty friendly and people don't freak us out.  We pretty much answered all his questions the way he wanted to hear them... well, because we DO love Jesus.

I personally think he was frustrated.  I had a sweatshirt that said "Las Vegas" on it... you know Vegas is known as "sin city",  so I really think he was pretty frustrated with the fact that we were lovers of Jesus and yet could have been THERE...Gasp!

Anyway, instead of saying, "Hey praise the Lord, you guys love Jesus... how can I pray for you two?" or something like that... He decided to rebuke my husband for his long hair. He used that passage in scripture that talks about hair length for men... I was pretty miffed to say the least! COULD NOT understand how someone could just look and pick at things instead of realizing we BOTH worship the SAME Jesus... a BIG ONE!!  I asked this man, "What about Jesus... didn't he have longer hair?"... and he told me that "Jesus probably had an, executive cut"... Yeah, okay,  whatever! This man had an answer for everything.

I would meet MANY people like him since then as I identified myself as a Christ follower. I've been asked how I could even call myself a Christian when I didn't want children the first ten years of marriage.  I've been told by a small group leader that the wine in the bible was really grape juice and how mistaken I was to think that a Christian can drink. I was given a bunch of John MacArthur teaching tapes from a leader when I said that, even though I never experienced the "gift of tongues", I DO believe it still happens today. I've been rebuked for sharing positive opinions of theological books that I have read.  The list goes on.  

What this man and others like him didn't appear to have, was love, grace and compassion. I didn't go off on the guy, we parted ways in peace. Unfortunately, the older I get, the less patience I have for people who wish to do this type of thing to me.

I wrestled afterwards to try to get a grasp on the guilt he left me with. This man left me thinking we were doing something really wrong with our life. He left me with something that Jesus promised He had ALREADY taken away from me.  Condemnation, Guilt and Shame.  I spent a lot of time praying about this and searching through my bible. This would not be the first, nor the last time that someone wanted to lord their supposed "spiritual authority" over me. I'm pretty much done being the target for THAT arrow. I've also become quick at jumping in front of those type of arrows aimed at other people. 

You know how Paul talks in the bible about circumcision. People in his day were trying to make THAT a part of Christianity in the bible... Paul said that those people should go the whole way and EMASCULATE themselves!! Gal. 5:1-12 (vs 12)  Very strong words... So even PAUL got upset at people who try to bring religious works into earning OR maintaining our relationship with Jesus!  Our relationship with Jesus was purchased on the cross.  Jesus said, "It is finished" for a reason.

NOW,  DO NOT HEAR ME WRONG... I am not saying that it's okay to just "DO ANYTHING" after you have chosen to accept Christ as Savior... for goodness sake... go ahead and TRY it... I really don't have to worry about "your bad actions" because the very nature of natural consequences that God Himself has allowed to be put into place will show you how foolish THAT is... "Live as free men! But do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil."  1 Peter 2:16

What I AM saying is that I really think we need to realize that this type of thing is between Jesus and the person that is His... not some stranger on the street or someone who doesn't even REALLY know you or deeply and truly care about you. I think that's why when you belong to Jesus it's important to trust your heart with trustworthy friends. If they're sharing something with you... it's probably because they LOVE you... even it they might be wrong in their thoughts of your situation... it's STILL done in LOVE. If they end up trying to make you feel you don't belong to Jesus, it may be time to get new friends.

1 Corinthians Chap 12 and 13 says that whole LOVE thing is pretty important! 

That experience twelve years ago, and many others I've had just like it, has actually made me stronger in my faith and my place in Christ.  I have learned that Jesus is the One I need to run all my freedoms by... not some goofy person who doesn't even have my best interests in mind and is worried about such "important things" in my life as HAIR LENGTH. Geesh! 

So this is one of the many reasons I really am a Grace Girl...(actually, I'm a Jesus Girl)...  God has been SO good and gentle with me through my years of growing in Him! He has been the One who has been SO FAITHFUL to protect me from MYSELF!  It only makes me love Him MORE and want to extend that grace to others who have trusted in Him or are maybe on the verge of trusting in Him or don't even think of Him at all yet!!!!   He is so amazing!!! 

So if you've had a "Christian" really be rude to you or judgmental... Don't lose your Hope. Certainly don't write off Jesus!  I hope you will realize that Christians aren't Jesus...People will ALWAYS let you down. JESUS is Jesus and THIS is just ONE of the many loving things He has to say about you...

Matthew 10:29-31   Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid.  You are worth MORE than many sparrows.

~AMAZING GRACE!