May 4, 2022 – Click here to listen
I’ve given my testimony from Anchorage AK to Key West FL and hundreds if not thousands of points in-between. I have spoken in prisons including death row, rehab clinics, homeless shelters, and numerous churches, spiritual retreats, fundraisers, and even some government functions.
As I look back on that part of my life, I remember that in nearly every audience there was someone who got up and left as soon as I began relating the early days of my life prior to following Jesus.
I always looked upon these people with sadness, because they missed the best part of who I am versus who I was. I decided early on to be transparent about the depths I had sunken to in my early life. This was done to demonstrate the power of God to transform lives and provide hope. My message was clear if I could be transformed, anyone could. The book I wrote, Miracle on Luckie Street was written in the same manner as is Words for the Day.
I know many people who have things of which they are deeply ashamed in their past, but they keep it buried – DEEP. They fear what others might think about their former lives or that “great sin” they committed. I always felt that God owns me including my testimony and though humiliating to relate the depravity in which I once was mired to others, I accept it.
Why? Because who I am now, without all of that garbage in my life, testifies to the glory of God and gives hope to those mired in sin that through Christ it can be defeated. This is not to say I now lead a perfect life and never sin, no one is capable of that otherwise Jesus would not have had to sacrifice His life for our sins. I am, however, forgiven, appreciative, and intent upon glorifying God any way I can for the rest of my life.
I say all this today because there will always be a few who will judge you based on your past and not the present. They seem to forget that they too are sinners in need of forgiveness.
I love the parable that Jesus told of the shepherd who had 100 sheep who left the 99 to find the one that wandered off and became lost. He rejoiced at finding it. He told a similar parable about the lost coin when there were those who questioned Him about spending time with “sinners”. He loves us all no matter our past sins and He commands us to do likewise.
The Bible is full of stories of those who once led wicked lives and sinned against God, King David, the Apostle Paul, the despised tax collector Matthew, Mary Magdalene, and so on. The human race is wrought with sin, and no one is immune. So, the question that begs to be answered is why some religious zealots condemn someone else. God forgave them and shaped them into what He desired? Shouldn’t we praise Him for it?
Remember what it says in Luke 6:32: Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same . . .
When confronted with hypocrites who judge you just remember it is the I am that matters in life and incidentally, it is the great I AM and His opinion that is the only one that matters in all of eternity. The past is . . . well . . . the past!
Matt. 7:1
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment, you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure, you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.