Enjoy life and have a Happy New Year!
In the Bible in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 it states: “Test all things; hold fast what is good.”
The idea of testing all things is not a license to judge everyone and everything from whatever narrow perspective or interpretation you believe to be righteous. This kind of negative judging is simply called condemnation.
Condemning others is a sign of childishness, but accepting people beyond their faults is a sign of childlikeness. Just as trying to please people is a form of childishness, being free to be you is a form of childlikeness.
I once asked a question of a well-known Christian leader who recently went home to heaven but had been at the leading edge of many significant church projects in the UK in the last thirty years or so. The question was what five words first spring to your mind to describe God?
In his mid-70s at the point of our conversation and still pioneering he responded with these five words – Love, Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness, and FUN! – I believe this is a childlike and mature view of God.
Knowing you are loved by God will bring such a confidence and childlikeness. My eldest daughter when she was a little girl knew I loved her so much and when I said to her as I often did “I love you sweetie – you are wonderful”
She replied, “Yes I am wonderful and I love you too!”
You see all this self-effacing false humility mumbo jumbo that so seems to be a part of legalistic religion is not what Father God wants to hear on the lips of His children or see in their hearts.
A judgmental attitude usually stems from the hurt and pain of rejection and not feeling loved. The antidote to this is a decision to ask for and continually be open to receive more of the Love of God the Father and more of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ by His Spirit.
Let 2026 be a year of enjoying life and being open to accept and see yourself and other people the way God accepts and sees you and them. Happy New Year!
Geoff Newton