First answer these questions.
Can people control the following things about themselves:
The amount of melanin in their bodies and skin?
Their chromosomes XX or XY or DNA?
The year they were born?
Their blood type?
The color of their eyes or hair when they were born?
Where they were born?
What kind of parent(s) / mother they had?
Can you judge ANYONE because of all or any of these things? The things NO ONE can control about themselves? Do you want to be classified, marked, judged, and categorized for anything you yourself had no control over?
What is it that people actually can control about themselves?
Attitude?
Character?
Demeanor?
Actions?
Words?
Behavior?
So what people actually HAVE control over (ie. This last list) is what they WILL be judged for.
Whether we like it or not EVERYONE will stand before God and answer for their lives.
“I saw a Great White Throne and the One Enthroned. Nothing could stand before or against the Presence, nothing in Heaven, nothing on earth. And then I saw all the dead, great and small, standing there—before the Throne! And books were opened. Then another book was opened: the Book of Life. The dead were judged by what was written in the books, by the way they had lived. Sea released its dead, Death and Hell turned in their dead. Each man and woman was judged by the way he or she had lived. Then Death and Hell were hurled into Lake Fire. This is the second death—Lake Fire. Anyone whose name was not found inscribed in the Book of Life was hurled into Lake Fire.”
Revelation 20:11-15
Did you catch it? “…. by the way they had lived.” That has nothing to do with the first list (things we can’t control) and everything on the second list (things each of us can control about ourselves ie. Every choice we make).
Hmmm. So individual responsibility. Each judged by God individually by the choices they made for themselves and HOW they lived those out.
What makes you able to be a better judge than God by trying to categorize, mark, and judge people from the first list? Who told / taught you to be prejudiced about people from the first list? Parents? Family? Culture? School? Society? You were not BORN with prejudice.
If you’ve fallen into the hands of the enemies of God and believed their lies and deception- then you’ve LEARNED or been taught how to judge people incorrectly.
Who is about stealing, killing, and destroying?
Let’s look at what Jesus said about this:
Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him. “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”
John 10:6-14
It can’t be any simpler than that.
So the question comes…. who’s your Shepherd? Who’s your master? Who’s teaching are you following? Many deceive themselves thinking that they have NO master.
For one – the created is mastered by their Creator. Even WHEN the created REJECT any notion, concept, or the existence of their Creator.
By choice you get to choose who, what, and how you live your life – and who will be your teacher. God has given Mankind free will and choice. So that we can choose Him AND love.
Granted there are many many people given better platforms on which their lives began and were nurtured. Parent(s). Socioeconomic. Country. Faith. Opportunity. etc. etc.
And yes those privileges / platforms can greatly shape how one thinks and what opportunities one is given. But those factors and platforms can either be a hindrance or help to the development of the character of that individual.
So what really is the factor that will level EVERYONE to their value and purpose?
The very essence of God – the Holy Spirit.
A new creation. A new operating program.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
By choice. Choosing Him. Jesus.
The lie is – we can judge better than God.
Don’t fall for it. Don’t sit in His Chair of Judgement. “Vengeance is mine – says God.” He is the ONLY one who can judge a person rightly.
We though can judge things on the second list. The best way to learn how to judge rightly is to have the Holy Spirit within you – teaching you HOW to do that.
Consequences can be applied to wrong behaviors.
The best way is to learn judging is to judge YOURSELF first.
“Stop judging, so that you won’t be judged, because the way that you judge others will be the way that you will be judged, and you will be evaluated by the standard with which you evaluate others. “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Matthew 7:1-5
Then the question becomes how well have you learned to hear His Voice? Have you learned how to hear His correction to you?
“In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live ? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God. So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it! Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you’ll never get so much as a glimpse of God. Make sure no one gets left out of God’s generosity. Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time. Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.”
Hebrews 12:4-14
Isn’t it time to spend some greater personal effort in getting into a better intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit?
Your choice.