I had a serious issue before Christ saved me. I was self-righteous. I used to judge people without giving them a chance to defend themselves. It happened because I used to compare them to the best people I found in the Bible, like Jesus, the Apostles, Prophets, etc., of course that was the way I used to judge others, not myself, so I was always blameless in my own judgment. Even knowing what Jesus said in Matthew 7:5, I still refused to acknowledge my own sins and failures. But one day, God started working within me to resolve that issue. I remember God taught me a lesson through the Prophet Jonah's life. As I said before, in the beginning of my Christian life, I was desperately seeking God, giving everything up to know God and His will for my life. I was praying, fasting, reading the Bible every time I could. As I was part of the worship team, I wanted that for everyone, I thought everyone had to be at the same pace I was, as committed as I was, "on fire" like I was. So, because the others were not, to me, it was unacceptable, to me, they had to forsake everything, even their families to be at the church praying everyday, or at least, five days a week. The pastor (a man of God), put me in the leadership. Well, that was not a good choice. I tried to convince everyone they should be as committed to God as I was. To me, practicing before playing wasn't important. Anointing was all that matter. Things didn't go well, I was having a hard time, I couldn't bear anymore. Then I started praying a lot to know why it wasn't working the way I thought it should. After a couple days, it was clear to me that I didn't have authority over the team (thank God). Then I said to the pastor: "If you don't give me full authority I'm not the leader anymore, and I'll be out for a while". Thank God the pastor was wise enough to show me the bench. Well, my first sunday off, at the worship time, I was having a wonderful time, it look like I was in heaven, standing before Jesus Christ, worshiping Him. I honestly don't remember much about the music, if the quality was good or bad, if was loud or not (everybody said it was awful, there was an oppression, as if the enemy was there). Then, suddenly I started praying like this: "God, if there's anyone there that shouldn't be there, tie his (her) hands". Then I heard one instrument sounding really horrible (the player is really talented), then the guy spoke to the pastor (the pastor was leading the worship) and the pastor said: "Let's pray for our brother, because he fells like he has his hands tied". When I heard that, I felt down in my seat, my strength was gone, my body was shaking, I was terrified. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me, He said I was like Jonah, praying to see God's wrath being poured over the people, the same people God loved. After that day, God started working with that issue in my life. I, like most people, still have, once in a while, Jonah's attitude, but I’m far better right now. It's very hard to discern between judging the people or their motivations, works or teachings. In John 4:1 God tells us to "test the spirits", because there's a lot of people using the Bible as a means of personal gain, saying God said things He never said, using the Text as a pretext to annul the context, only to validate their own doctrine, point of view or fable. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:15.
Conclusion: We need wisdom to discern between true and false teachings. We need strength to test the spirits. We need mercy to show love instead judgment and we need humbleness to have a servant heart like Jesus had. Micah 6:8; James 2:13.
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