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Devotion Archive

True Faith: Judgement #65
26th June 2009

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Good Morning Loved Ones,

The Holy Spirit directs me to keep on writing about discerning the truth, when and how to judge based on Christ's directions on judgment in His Sermon on the Mount. Obviously, there are times when He expects us to make judgments and times when it is His right only. One of the passages that gives us insight into judgment is 2 THESS 3: 6, 11, and 14-15. "Our brothers, we command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to keep away from all brothers who are living a lazy life and who do not follow the instructions that we gave them...We say this because we hear that there are some people among you who live lazy lives and who do nothing except meddle in other people's business...It may be that someone there will not obey the message we send you in this letter. If so, take note of him and have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed. But do not treat him as an enemy; instead, warn him as a brother." We must remember that MT 7: 1-2 has told us, "Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way as you judge others, and He will apply to you the same rules you apply to others." Now, let's look at how this is applied.

One example from my own life comes to mind. I used to be related by marriage to a woman who spent all of her time being what I view as spiritually lazy. By this, I mean she never really understood gist of God's teaching about really loving others. For others to have her approval, they had to be for all practical purposes exactly like her. If they weren't she rejected them and their values. If one tried to speak with her about God, she would talk only about what was expected of others from the narrow frame of reference of the rules and practices she followed. She kept a Kosher home and was very legalistic. In essence, she was a modern day Pharisee. No amount of conversation with her ever caused her to think about anything but the black and white of an issue. For her, there were never shades of gray. When she was relaxing, she would play Mah Jong and gossip with her lady-friends about other people's personal business. Oftentimes, this gossip was mean-spirited and hurtful. God is telling us here not to hate such a lazy person, but basically to warn him of his need to rethink his habits and to pray for him. Where our judgment authority stops is at giving up on a person entirely. We may not be able to change them; God alone can work such a change. It is God's decision whether or not He will give up on someone who is being recalcitrant, not ours.

There are people who are physically lazy too. We've all met them. They can be encountered at home, at the office or in school, in church...anywhere in any context of our lives. At times, there are real reasons why someone won't pitch in and do his share. We must be careful that we understand the situation as much as possible in order to be discerning. I remember having a young man in a freshman biology class that I was teaching at San Francisco State University. He was extremely reserved, barely saying a word and always sat in the back of that class. He would always be writing something or drawing a picture. But when it came to the lab portion of our course, he would mostly stand back and take notes, rarely doing the measuring or working hands on. After several weeks of my observations and some complaints about him from his lab partners, I got him aside and engaged him in short conversation, by asking him if he knew he was the object of complaints. It was then that he explained to me in his heavily accented English [he happened to be from eastern Europe] that his parents had raised him to stay away from anything that wasn't an ordinary household chemical. Then, he produced the most amazing diagrams and pictures of what we had been studying that I had ever seen. He explained that he has MS and that he was a philosophy major [obviously with a talent for art], taking my class only to fulfill a requirement to graduate. When it was time for the midterm exams, he demonstrated an adequate grasp of the principles we had covered. This man would never find any satisfaction working with his hands. PS 90: 17, "And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands."

And then, there are truly lazy people who feel they can get through life using others to work for them. Sadly, some of these people have made it to become high level officers of companies. They are the ones who financially benefit from the work of others and take advantage of that by siphoning off tremendous perks. They are the leeches of this world. They are not producers in any real way. We find them in other contexts too. It is these people, who are willing to let others pull them along, to which this 2 THESS passage is directed. We must note that God's way of dealing with them is not to run our mouths, not to be vindictive, but instead, to warn them first and then to step aside and allow them to suffer the normal adverse consequences of their lazy behavior. Those last words, "as a brother," are key to our understanding of discernment intended here. This clearly means pray for this lazy person, do what He will allow to gently guide him into recognizing his own need to pitch in or change his ways. I can think of how tough it would be if this person were part of a mission team not pulling his weight. By being angry and arguing with him would rob him of the opportunity of ever knowing the satisfaction a returned missionary has when he has really made a difference by his work. We are to put distance of a temporary nature between us and the offender, so that the offender will become ashamed of his behavior and choose to turn things around between himself and God. Our sensitivity and discernment in this area can really be constructive without being mean. Once the change to compliance with God's will is made, then this brother can be welcomed back on the team with a lesson well-learned.

PRAYER: O Lord, You have often used this suggested technique to allow us to make the mid-course corrections that You want us to make. Your will is in our greatest eternal interests, and we thank and praise You for that. You have also used it to show us when we are going down a path You don't intend for us to take. When we quietly withdraw from an offending person on Your team, we are giving You room to exact a change for good in that person. The discernment to know when to do this is something You will give us in prayer, a great motivation for us to always pray first before doing a task for You. So, Dearest Father, it also makes sense for us to pray frequently to You for direction. PS 37: 23-24, "The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Thought they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand." There are times when someone who permanently rejects You or who simply is on a wrong path with regard to Your plans for him, is lazy and unproductive. That person must be put off a particular team or, though Your intervention, must come to realize that he is on the wrong path. If we will pray often, genuinely asking for Your direction, You will give it to us. There are even times when You seem like You are not giving us direction, so that we will learn some inherent lesson in this for us. There are times when we will be asked to understand that a lazy person is dealing with some big issue that is in the way of him taking action. If we ask You for it, You will give us the discernment and wisdom that we need for being understanding [PS 51: 6; PS 119: 125]. We must remember Your command of RO 14: 13, "So then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make your brother stumble or fall into sin." We pray for this sensitivity, wisdom, and discernment in our dealings with others, in the holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Next week, we will look at Christ's view on what to do about immoral people from 1 COR 5: 1-3, 9-13. For now, we must try not to be lazy either physically, emotionally, or spiritually. When we encounter lazy people, we must warn them and do what is necessary to give them the greatest possible chance of working things out with God and being brought to where they will choose to stop this behavior. Our God gives many people second chances, and so should we by using prayed-for wisdom, discernment, and compassion. Even when a lazy person angers you, pray for him. We must follow the example that Christ set for us, obediently suffering, going to the cross for us, and being resurrected-all so that we should have the opportunity to listen to the truth, believe it, and be ourselves saved from spiritual death [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 14-15]. Christ never was lazy or mean-spirited, because in being the second personality of God, God is in Him. And, when we see Him, we are seeing God [JN 14: 9, 11]. God has no evil in Him. There are times when we must ask this question: Should I step aside in order to give God the chance to change this person? Often with lazy people, the right answer to this question is "yes." In this way we don't usurp God's opportunity and right to judge. Be consoled that God loves His human creation as much as He does. Praise be to Him!

Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn

© Lynn Johnson 2012. All Rights Reserved.

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