Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Tuesday's Devo - Save it till Judgement Day

Read 2 Sam. 1:3-27
I often wonder if people like Saul will be in heaven. He started out as God's anointed leader of his people and ended up being an adversary to God and David. I guess we will find out when we get to heaven, but for now, David is our example of how we should respond to people like Saul. People like Saul...pastors who have started out with power and ended up with a prostitute; Christian leaders who chucked it all for an affair; friends we knew that loved Jesus but are not walking with him now; the beat goes on. How do we respond to them? Like David. He never judged Saul, always loved him, stayed out of the way of his spears, but refused to touch the anointing God had placed on him(even though the oil seemed a little thinned).
Saul has been fatally wounded on the battlefield so he called out to a young Amelekite soldier. He told the soldier to kill him, so he did. Then the soldier took Saul's crown and bracelet and brought them to David. He didn't quite get the response he was expecting. David rent his clothes, mourned, wept, and fasted. David asked the soldier why he was not afraid to stretch his hand and destroy the Lord's anointed. Then he ordered the death of this boy.
That was a costly lesson on judging. It is not our job description as a Christian to judge others. We are to judge ourselves, which should take a lifetime. Jesus said that he didn't come to the world to judge it, but save it. We are told in the Word to judge nothing until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then every man shall praise God. And best of all: if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
Lord in this dispension of grace may we be distributors of grace to others and allow you to judge the motives of our hearts. Make us clean to be a worship you.

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