1 Cor. 4:3-5
3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human
court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
4 My conscience is
clear, but that does not make me innocent.
It is the Lord who judges me.
5 Therefore judge
nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in
darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise
from God.
To me, this sounds a lot like dying to oneself and putting
on the new self in 2 Cor 5:17. Most of
us are our own harshest critic, and we can level that same standard onto
another person. However this passage
says that I have to get to a point of not caring about what others think of me
(v.3), but how God will judge me should weigh far more heavily than how others
judge me. Dying to myself goes beyond
just listening to a well-thought out and doctrinally-correct sermon or Bible
study. It means putting my faith in
action.
Sometimes being in “public” ministry exposes me to people’s
judgment about my teaching or singing.
It’s a hard place to be, yet the spiritual needs of the church calls for
this kind of ministry. Whether I’m
teaching in women’s Sunday School or recording a new worship song, I feel the
glare of people’s opinions and preconceived notions. If I let the weight of people’s judgments press
me down, then I will never go forward. I
can’t be preoccupied by other’s opinions of me, but rather ask myself, “Am I
doing what God has called me to do?” If
God’s calling means being a leader, teaching others, having a ministry beyond
whom I’m comfortable and familiar with, am I willing to accept all that it
encompasses, including unfair criticism and judgment? I have to keep in mind that it is the Lord
who ultimately will judge me (v.4), and He will judge me fairly and
lovingly. That gives me confidence to go
forward.
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