Judging

Our Daily Bread
Have you ever made a judgment about someone and been totally off base?  Completely wrong?  It is easy to  do in today's society.  The media is quick to judge and condemn based on a slim amount of evidence or whatever spectacular details they can come up with to sell their magazines or newspapers (or attract viewers to their web sites!).  How can we avoid that?

The devotional is interesting this morning.  It gives a different perspective of Job and his friends.  I forgot how God responded to Job's friends.  Look at Job 42:7-8.  God didn't rebuke them because they judged Job incorrectly.  He rebuked them because they spoke inaccurate things about God!  I forgot that, which is sort of bad since I just studied it again last Fall.  Oh well!  God was so upset with them, that he required them to make a special sacrifice and have Job pray for them.  That was very, very unusual in the Old Testament.  Job was not a priest.  Usually only high priests could offer an intercessory prayer to God!  How interesting is that!

So let's look at our own lives for a minute.  Are we judging others?  Are we judging God?  Shouldn't we be trusting God more and loving others more instead?  I know I need to do these things better!

Lord, thank you for giving us wisdom if we truly seek it.

Teaching Tuesday
We are going to look at secret number 5 from The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People today!  Good stuff!

Choose your companions wisely.

OoooOoooo, that is a good one.  How many times have your parents told you this?  How many times have you heard "he was a good kid until he fell into the wrong crowd"?  I was surprised by some of the reasons for this secret.  The book says that if we hang out with folks that have more than we do, we have a tendency to feel bad about ourselves.  We feel bad because we keep comparing ourselves to them and what they have.  If we hang out with folks who have less than what we have, then we have a tendency to be grateful.  The conclusion is that we should compare ourselves with examples that are meaningful but that make us feel comfortable with who we are and what we have.

I want to add my own twist to this.  As a Christian, I suggest we hang around with other Christians that know more and are farther along in their journey and with folks that aren't as far as long.  We can be encouraged and be the encourager in each situation.  This is what I find as "meaningful" in my life examples!

*********************************************************
Let go, my friends!  God will be there to catch you and hold you in his loving arms!

u r a BCOG.  u r FAWM.  Now believe it!