Posted by: Bill Hornbeck | April 28, 2010

We are eager and quick to box fellow Christians into groups.

Today’s devotion is Luke 7:31-35. 
 
“31  “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? 
                                
 32  “They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’
                                            

 33  “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

 34  “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

 35  “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”  Luke 7:31-35.

Like the “men of this generation”, how eager and quick we are today to be critical of others, particularly of fellow Christians!  If someone does not drink, then we criticize him or her as a self-righteous tee-totaler.  If someone does drink, then we criticize him or her as a drunk or a lush. 

If our criticism was limited to criticism of eating and drinking, then the harm would be limited, but we extend our criticism to other areas.  We are eager and quick to box fellow Christians into other groups as well.  For example, we are eager and quick to box fellow Christians into either the group of legalists or the group of antinomians (outlaws*), and thus we harm their message and ministry.  * Click here: Antinomians – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Let us remember the great differences between John the Baptist and Jesus.  And yet, each had their own unique purpose, message, and ministry.  “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”  John the Baptist and Jesus were each vindicated by the fruit of their ministry.   

“If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.  And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?  If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?  But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.”  1 Corinthians 12:15-18. 

Romans 14:4
“Who are you to judge the servant of another?  To his own master he stands or falls;  and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

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