Monsterlizard - Born Again

1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  3“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? 4How 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? 5You 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.

 6“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:1-6)

We all have sin.  We have all done and continue to do bad things, and what Jesus is saying is that we cannot judge others while we are not perfect. 

5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. (1 Corinthians  4:5)

10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11It is written:
   ” ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
   ’every knee will bow before me;
      every tongue will confess to God.’ “^[a] 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. 
 13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. (Romans 14:10-13)

This is not a small charge, it is repeated in the New Testament.  This is not saying that sin is ok, it is just that we are not worthy to be judges.  In John 8:1 - 11, Jesus shows the men attempting to stone the adulterating woman that since they are not without sin, that they cannot kill her.  However, he does admit that what the woman has been doing is wrong, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

We should attempt to help each other get away from sin, not judge each other for that sin.

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” Proverbs 17:17

I called my brother last night for no other reason than that Heather has been telling me for a couple days that I need to call him.  I had been putting it off because I got busy with this or that, but yesterday I picked up the phone.  He has never seemed so genuinely happy to hear from me.  We had a great talk about nothing in particular, and my cell phone died.  I had told him it was about to, so he wouldn’t be surprised when we got cut off.

After the phone went dead, I walked into my bed room to plug it in.  Once it came back on, it notified me that I had a voicemail.  It seemed strange because I was sure all my family had called to wish me a happy birthday already.  And Jason knew that my phone was dying so he surely wouldn’t call back.

The message was short, and a little quite, but it is ringing in my ears even today.  I can’t remember ever hearing those 3 words from him before.

My brother and I have been through a lot.  We went separate ways for a while.  He went through (is going through) his own trials, and there was a point I couldn’t bare to watch anymore.  I thought he was forever lost, but we have begun to rebuild our relationship.

Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever” (John 8:34-35).

My brother is my brother forever, and I love him.