Clay.

Today I bought some gummie bears to take as treats with me to the DRC,

then I ate them.

It's not easy to be in a house with a pack of bears staring at you all day....

 Buuuut that's not what this blog is about.
Its about something that has been on my mind a little while.

On the flight from Houston to Edmonton I read Romans 1 and 2, 

and I began to think about judgement. 

Not God's judgement on us, 

but of our judgement of one another. 

Something I have come to realize that I struggle with,

something God has been working on me this past year. 

I'm wondering if, through the ages, 

Christians have actually been some of the snobbiest people of society. 

We are ordered to act in humility,

under God's grace.

Grace that is taken, applied to our lives

so that we no longer see ourselves guilty of unforgiven sins. 

Perhaps this is not wrong,

for there is no guilt in life after Christ's work. 

However, it becomes so easy to turn our eyes

on those we deem as unforgiven

and look on them as worthy only of being charged guilty,

and that they should be looked on with either

pity or condemnation. 

But in reality, 

I, we, are all equally worthy of the same charge of guilt,

all equally undeserving of the remission of that guilt. 

Yet, though perhaps in good spirit, 

I desire for others to live 

in purity, 

and so in word or maybe just thought

I pass judgement when they do not meet my idea of right living. 

But I must be a magnet and not a prodding iron. 

I must attract with a humble, right lifestyle,

rather than poke and peel away at others shortcoming. 

The latter will only open wounds,

cause unnecessary pain,

and reinforce the idea that I only care about the way you look next to me,

that is, how you make me look,

rather than who you are in the deepest place of your heart.

So reach out christian and be different. 

When your heart condemns

look quickly inwards rather than continue in that thought. 

Examine yourself.

Trade judgemental feelings for love.

Do not feel that the righteousness of the world

rests on your shoulders.

Rather be concerned with the righteousness resting

in your own heart,

that which you do have control of. 

Then act out in love

and trust in God enough to believe

that He can use your lifestyle to draw others to His heart

without you pressing burning coals on people's lips,

blinders on their eyes

and yokes around their neck.

Trust in God enough to believe 

the no heart is out of His reach,

that He can guide and convict as He sees fit and good to do.

That is His work, 

yours is to display His love each day. 

He is the potter,

you are the clay.