Condem or Contend

The righteous have a choice. We can either condemn the wicked or contend for their hearts. I condemned my dad for years, and in his last days God taught me to contend for his soul and everything changed.

He washed his robes white in the blood of the lamb!

A friend of mine was working in another country as a missionary. He had to fire a native who was in his employment. Out of anger and revenge, this native vandalized property, robbed, became violent and confronted my friend with death threats. Two other men in connection with this native were also harassing him. Weary and exasperated, he did not know what to do as he had no power over them. So he asked God to be the judge of this situation.

One man died, the other man left, and the native was rebuked and threatened by the leaders of his own people.

It all stopped.

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THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

The gift of righteousness is the free gift to be righteous before God, by the blood of Jesus Christ. It also means, we have been given a very special gift - the ability to discern between good and evil. Our ears and eyes have been opened and our hearts softened to see what is righteous and what is evil, what is wise and what is foolish. This is why it is very easy for Christians to slip into judgment toward others. So easy to forget that we too were once deaf, mute and blind. However, this gift of righteousness comes with great responsibility and the need for God’s wisdom in our hearts. LORD, how do we see with open eyes and hear with open ears and not become judgmental to the evil around us? Because now I can see and hear what I didn’t before.

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For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.

Matthew 13:15

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DEAF, MUTE AND BLIND

Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the LORD?

Isaiah 42:19

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The answer:

God wants us to have open eyes and open ears to OUR sin, but be deaf, blind and mute to another’s sin. Through Christ, the righteous shall take care of their sin first in their own hearts and then they will see clearly with His wisdom how to help those that are deaf, mute and blind.

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Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:3-5

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My missionary friend could have condemned those men and judged them with his heart, but he asked God to be their judge. King David did the same and his enemies fell before him.

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GOD IS THE JUDGE

So how do we see wickedness and not judge?

May we ask God to first be the judge of our hearts, and second, ask that the Almighty God be the judge of theirs.

“Judge them LORD as you have judged me and give them eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart soft like flesh as you are giving me, lest they perish.”

But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

1Corinthians 11:31-32

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Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.

Before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Psalms 96:10,13

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CONTEND OF CONDEMN

We can either contend for the wicked with the Word of God, swinging the Sword on their behalf, or condemn them which is exactly what the Accuser wants us to do. “Keep accusing them,” he says, “for then you will never speak the Word of God for their souls.”

We can’t condemn and contend at the same time, it’s one or the other. If we are looking at their speck, we will never look at our own. And looking at their sin, we will never contend for their hearts.

So we can contend for souls by speaking the Word of God on their behalf, the Imprecatory scriptures and declaring the blood of Jesus over them for salvation. That their eyes and ears would be opened with the gift of righteousness and their hearts turned from stone to soft like flesh.

May we declare, “Jesus, you are my righteousness that I may not stand before another as the Accuser, but stand before them as a contender.”