Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father bring us closer to His side today, that we might be more mindful of and obedient to His Will. Father, throw out sin and foolishness is keeping us from a deeper relationship with you! And even though it is hard to take sometimes, please help us to embrace the good advice and challenges from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Help us to be faithful to you, and to each other in this way. Father, in the name of Jesus, by the Spirit, deepen all of our relationships in this way. Tear away whatever is keeping us from you and from each other. Amen!
Your Morning Song: "Brother" by Needtobreathe (ft. Gavin DeGraw)
Your Morning Scripture: Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
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In our last devotional we talked about how there is no condemnation from God to those who are His kids. Because of Jesus, we are God's own children and He will never reject us. There is no rejection, no abandoning, no neglecting, no chance that God will ever say to His own, "I want less of you." Instead, God says to us, and we ought to say to each other, "I want more of you!"
And that is where this quirky pt. 1 and pt. 2 came from.
If there is no condemnation for those of who are in Christ, connected to the Son by the Spirit within us, so that we can be in relationship with them and the Father, then what is there? If there is no rejection, no "I want less of you!" then what is there?
Are we free to just do whatever we want, say sorry sometimes when the mood takes us, and say, "God won't do anything about. He's good with this. And remember, the Bible says no judging!"
No!
What then is there? What does "I want more of you?" actually look like?
Condemnation...none of it. But we don't get to just do whatever we want. God's Will for our lives does not change for us, we change for it. So we are not condemned and rejected by God, but as God's kids we will change for Him. Because we love Him for first loving us. We change. We are transformed, by God in us (He, the Holy Spirit), into God with us (Jesus our Lord), for the glory of God over us (Our Heavenly Father, who so loved us).
In Proverbs 27:17 God says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." And in Colossians 1:28 God says, "Him [Jesus] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
So as God's faithful kids, through Jesus, we are not to condemn each other. But then what is this other stuff? Warning each other? Teaching each other? Sharpening each other?
Condemnation is a form of judgement. We are not supposed to do this one.
Admonishment is also a form of judgement. We are supposed to do this one.
What is the difference? Condemnation is what God will do to Satan and the other fallen angels, and all people who reject Him, on Judgement Day. Hell. Rejection in the form of eternal punishment and separation.
You want to try to condemn anyone in this way? Yeah, me neither.
Admonishment, on the other hand, is something we are supposed to. As God's kids, we are supposed to admonish one another, to judge each other's attitudes and actions. If I am not acting like Jesus, please tell me! So I can change.
When iron sharpens iron, little bits of the metal is removed to make a sharper edge. In the same way, when we sin, as God's kids, we need to be able to talk to each other about it. Sin and foolishness and immaturity needs to be removed.
But we're not actually iron. What happens then when someone helps me to remove sin and foolishness from my life by calling me out on it and helping me to see it? I don't get physically sharper, thank the Lord.
That person and I get closer. God and I get closer. Instead of sharpness, I gain intimacy.
The whole purpose of judging/admonishing each other is to help each other get closer to God and closer to each other.
That sounds way different than condemnation!
We should gently, but persistently love each other in this way. Using the Bible, using prayer, using our own weaknesses, sins, and faults, we should sharpen one another to gain a better relationship with each other and with God.
Do you have anyone in your life that does this for you? Do you have anyone that you do this for? Draw near to God. Draw near to each other. And let's help each other to remove anything that stands in the way of a better relationship with our Heavenly Father and His/our family.
