WHAT YOU DO TO ME, YOU DO TO JESUS

The next time I am tempted to discuss one of my brothers or sisters in Christ, I hope I remember this:  God has taken it upon Himself to bring His adopted children into His Son's likeness, and it is not my job to judge Him or His child!  The Apostle Paul, in Romans 8:28-29, wrote this about His work in His children:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."

In addition, Paul wrote:  "...He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).  Paul also wrote in Ephesians 1:3-6: 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:  according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:  having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved."

There is another excellent reason for not being critical of God's children:  when we criticize one of them, we are actually being critical of Jesus Himself!  Notice the conversation between Jesus and Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9:1-6:

"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.  And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:  and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?  And he said, Who art Thou, Lord?  And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.  And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."

This same truth is the basis for the Lord's separating "the sheep from the goats" in Matthew 25:31-46!  Those who blessed God's child, were rewarded as if they had blessed Him.  Those who cursed His child, were punished as if they had cursed Jesus!
 

 

So be very careful as to how you treat the children of God! 

The Lord takes it personally!