Matthew 7New International Version (NIV)

Judging Others

7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Okay...Don't Judge me...!! I put my decorations away and I did it in record time!

We finally put away our Christmas decorations and even so, we did it before epiphany! Yeah! Actually, by January 4th, 2016, we put the last Christmas pleasantry in it's pleasant little pouch and sealed it shut until December of 2016!!! Phew! Truly, I could not believe how much sparkle, pine needles, real and fake, and how much dust overall I swept up as I swept out Christmas this year. At one moment I recall sneezing 6 times as a bit of dust mixture of Christmas past filled the air and found its way to my eyes....!!! Ah Chew!!! Yet, finally, half way blinded, I managed to get all of the Christmas packed away! What a great feeling to say goodbye to yesterday's headaches and grief and to move on into the New Year and say, Hello! New Hopes, New Dreams, New Delusions all waiting to beckon me at the doors of a new beginning are all finally here and full of promise. What? Delusions? Yeah...the New Year can be full of riches in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen! However, we all know that we think we see gold and then with gold dust in our eyes...we go for the gold, not realizing that it's not the treasure of Gold that we thought...! That's right! This false gold is not part of the glorious riches in Christ Jesus....! In fact, it's not the gold from the manger....!!!

It's just gold dust, blinding us from the only gift that does not decay and does not rust, Christ! We actually wait for things to fill our lives, things that we cannot clearly see or judge as good or bad due to the sin that blinds us. Yes, there are big planks of sin in our eyes, making it impossible to see!!

In fact, listen to this quote on waiting upon God and ponder its profound meaning, "we wait on the gifts, the riches promised to us by God and we wait looking for the gifts....Yes, even after the gift wrap and the tinsel has passed, we walk into the New Year still waiting for the stuff that we think will make us happy! Sadly, we wait for the gifts and neglect to realize that we still don't have the one gift that matters, the gift Giver....!! We are sooo blind!! We sooo need Him to see clearly! We are still not waiting on Him, we still only wait for what He can bring! The Wise men brought gifts to the gift Giver and beheld Him as the gift...In contrast, we ask Him for gifts for us and then forget that He is the greatest gift of all!! So, did you get blinded this year at Christmas?? Did you get the fact that any gold you have should be given to the Christ? Did you have gold dust in your eyes and miss the gift is the baby in the manger? Well, from my house to yours...it's not too late to have a visit from the Magi..the Wise Men!! Let's let them teach us that we only need one gift, and it's Him, the Christ! Present your time and offerings to Him in the New Year and Wait only on Him, the giver of the gifts...let Him be your gift! Truly, you will finally see, through Him that there are planks in your eyes and in your life that He needs to remove. Truly, you will finally see that you cannot see without Him...that unless your focus is completely on him, you will miss the mark; you will be deceived!

Please enjoy this version of Amazing grace....It's dedicated to my Dad...who's birthday was yesterday...May you cease to be blind and walk in His light in the new year.....God bless you all!!

Principle: If He is not the gift you seek, you may wait forever for silly things,