Advise Or Judge

Blessings parishioners of Steemchurch !!!

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We all know how easy it is to see other people's shortcomings. A sinner can quickly identify, judge (often unjustly), and accuse / mock a brother who was saved by the same blood of Christ instead of admonishing him and giving him advice in love.

To begin to deal with this problem one must understand what has led Christians to act with such lack of wisdom in regard to the admonition of others, and the root of all this is in pride. The overestimation of ourselves makes us see the other as inferior, less holy, less pious, and then we think "How can someone have done it? / I would never do the same", and meanwhile the Bible teaches us exactly the opposite:

"Do nothing out of strife or vainglory, but out of humility, estimating each other as superior to himself."
Philippians 2: 3

The first part of this verse already tells us a lot about how we should act. "Do nothing by contest or boast," and it is not the question: what is your motivation when you warn or advise someone? Unfortunately, I know that the possibilities of motivation are not the best when it comes to sinners. Sometimes, deep down in the heart, the desire, instead of seeking the good of the other and the glory of God, is in reality to be more holy than the other, or to present all his biblical knowledge about Christian life, or even to have a sense of duty fulfilled of the type: "I have fulfilled my obligation", when in truth we know that everything we do is nothing in front of what God has done for us and that all good works have already been prepared by Himself so that we execute them.

I recently heard a pastor say that grace teaches us 3 things: Humility, humility and humility. Christianity has nothing to do with pride, on the contrary, it is a call to a life of exercise of humility, and that is something that we should look for every day, fighting against our own nature.

Therefore, knowing that for ourselves that rarely good advisors, the Word of God tells us that the best way to do this:

"When the servant of the Lord should not be contentious, but rather, be kind to everyone, apt to teach, patient, he must meekly correct those who oppose him, hoping that God will grant them repentance, leading them to the knowledge of the truth, so that they may return to sobriety and escape from the snare of the devil, who imprisoned them to do his will. "2 Timothy 2: 24-26

There is before us the warning manual, we need to be kind, apt to teach, patient, correct with meekness. This is the correct way to treat someone's sins.

And at the end of this verse Timothy reminds us of something very important: it does not depend on our own effort to lead someone to repentance, only who does it is the Lord, therefore, it is foolish of us to find that if we have an excellent public speaking , or if we recite 100 verses for someone who is in sin, she will repent because of that. The biblical text is clear "in the hope that God will grant them repentance." The fact that it is God who performs the work of repentance should encourage and encourage us to continue warning our brothers, the Word of God never returns empty, and He chose his servants to be instruments of Him in this important task that is the to admonish one another for the edification of his beloved Church.

Finally, the text of Peter 3: 8-9 is presented, "For the rest, everyone has the same way of thinking, to be compassionate, to love them as brothers, to be compassionate and humble, not to repay evil with evil or insult with insult, on the contrary, bless, because for this they were called, to receive the blessing by inheritance. "

Our heart is like a garden full of weeds, we need to remove the sin from inside the garden and nourish ourselves with the good seeds of the Word of God so that the garden of the heart will bear good fruits, the fruits of the Spirit. Only in this way can we gradually gain maturity and wisdom to deal with the sins of our brothers and see, more and more, the glory of God in the midst of his people.