Love first, judge last

The first responsibility of any Christian is to live like Christ. We, as Christians, should be the last to judge and the first to love. We are to see beyond a person’s choices, lifestyle, faults, failures, and victories. We are to see them as a person who is loved, cherished, and valued by God. We are to see every individual as Christ sees them. When Jesus looks at a person, he sees Calvary. We should see the cross when we look at others as well.

“So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 5:1-4)

We are commanded to love others first. If we are to enjoy the fullness of life that Christ intends to give us, then we must love like Christ loves. We must seek to reach out to others as Christ stretched out his hand to the lepers. We must see others and not just look at them. Loving others does not mean we should endorse or support their sins. It does mean; however, we must take careful examination of ourselves prior to casting stones at others.

“But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7)

It is crucial that we are more concerned with our own sin than we are of others. It is easy to pinpoint another individual’s sin that we may not struggle with in our life. We may not be an alcoholic and may easily tell someone to repent of their addiction. We may not have made the decision to have an abortion and, thus, it makes it easy to judge someone who is walking into an abortion clinic. We may not identify as homosexual, non-binary, transgender, or bi-sexual. It makes it convenient for us to cast stones at those in that community and tell them to repent.

When we look in the mirror; however, we may see pride, envy, greed, jealousy, unforgiveness, sexual addiction, adultery, deceitfulness, gossip, and judgmentalism. Perhaps that is why we do not look in the mirror as often as we should. It is easier, and less convicting, to see another’s sins as opposed to our own. Jesus turns the tables and tells us to go ahead and throw the stone if we are sinless. None of us, with that requirement, can pick up a stone.

Jesus loved sinners first. He healed, cared, taught, fed, and loved the crowds. The same crowd that would shout “crucify him” is the same crowd he loved. There is a time to encourage another to repent and live a life pleasing and acceptable to the Lord. There is a time to show others and teach others Sacred Scripture regarding how to enjoy the gift of life God has given us to the fullest. It must be done; however, only after we have loved that individual.

We must love first and judge last.