Romans 14 :10 says “Why do you criticize or judge  other Christians? Everyone will stand in front of God to be judged.”

 

A few years ago my daughter dated a kind, godly young man who’s dad was a pastor. Sounds great, right? And he was, it was the fact that he and my daughter were of different ethnicities that was frowned upon by many of the people we know.  Family, friends, acquaintances; they all had an opinion. And most of those opinions were not favorable. I have always believed that it really did not matter to me what people thought. But that was when I was similar to most of the people I knew and was well thought of.  I have never dealt with fear of man and the desire to please people so much in my life until the majority of people I knew suddenly disapproved of me. It was a long battle within my heart and mind until the Holy Spirit taught me once and for all that as long as I was doing what I knew to be right, I couldn’t let other people’s prejudices affect me. That sounds SO EASY but it was not.  After more than a year the young couple in question broke up for reasons common to young adults who are still growing and changing. But the lessons I learned during that time are invaluable and I would not trade them for anything.

 

The entire chapter of Romans 14 still  always convicts me. I used to be so full of negativity and criticism that there was no room for peace and joy. Did all that criticism of my family bring happiness to those people? I will confidently say no. As any type of negativity always makes us less happy and not more. Criticizing other Christians used to be normal for me. If you’ve been saved for more than a week, you know there are different denominations and churches who do things a little differently. And a favorite past time of many Christians, including me in years past, is to tear apart what they are doing wrong. 

 

Let’s just all stop that madness. God is bigger than our culture, ethnicity, or denomination. Can we know what God is up to? Could it be that different things speak differently to other people? Whether a solemn, quiet song of praise or raucous worship music, God is glorified.  And isn’t that what matters in the end?