Are You the Judge?

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 

Colossians 2:16

I want to look at this from two angles. First, I know that Paul is dealing with Judaizers who were trying to bring Christians under the law. Just like then we have legalists today who want us to live under their set of man made rules and regulations. We must remember that Christ set us free from the law, not be be lawless, but, to be loving. 

I also want to challenge you to ask yourself, "Am I the judge?" Are you making up your own set of rules and regulations that you think you are following and you are judging others by those self-imposed standards? You might find yourself saying things like, "Well, I don't think it's right for Christians to..." or, "I think if you're a believer you shouldn't..." Now listen. We of course know sin is sin. But I'm talking about matters of conscience and style. For example, there are a lot of great churches that are doctrinally right on, just not my style. How someone else connects with the Lord is more about personalities than rigid rules of conformity. 

So, are you being bullied by judgmental modern day legalists? Are you a modern day legalist? I remember many moons ago when I first knew Christ as my Lord and Savior, that one of the pastors said that if we didn't learn how to live under grace we would become present day Pharisees and Sadducees. Be gracious. Be loving. Be humble. Remember what Paul said in Romans 4:14, "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand."