Scripture: 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.
Devotion: We have spent a lot of time this week unpacking what it means that Christians won’t look “normal.” We will look different from the rest of the world. But as we press into those differences, we should seek that the Holy Spirit would convict us in our own lives without passing judgement on those who don’t know Jesus.
It can be easy to see all the ways that the world falls short of how God has called us to live. But when people don’t know Jesus, how could we expect any different from them? As Christians, we are called to love God and love one another (Matt. 22:37-40), serve God (1 Peter 4:10), serve others (Phil. 2:4), turn from sin (1 Peter 1:15-16), practice humility (Phil. 2:3), and extend forgiveness (Matt. 6:14-15). What do all of these things have in common? We find them in the Bible. Whether revealed to us in the character of God, shown to us in the life of Jesus, or described to us by the Word of God, we find the type of life that we are called to live in the Bible. So, for those that don’t know Jesus and aren’t in the Word, we cannot expect them to live the same way that we do.
For those who don’t know Jesus, they are not indwelt with the Holy Spirit. They have a moral compass, but the conviction and sanctification that comes as a work of the Spirit are not present within them. So, the Apostle Paul urges us to not judge those outside of the church. We should not have the same expectations of how they live their lives when they haven’t surrendered their lives to Christ. Instead, we can leave the work of any judgement of those outside of the church to the Lord. May we focus on letting the Spirit work in our lives and in the church, spurring us all on to be a light and to bring those who don’t know Jesus into a relationship with Him.
Reflect:
- Have you found yourself judging the actions of those who don’t know Jesus?
- How can you shift your perspective to have compassion for those who don’t know Jesus and center your desire on sharing about Him with them?
