Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Paul wrote, “You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat… So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Maybe you don’t like the Scripture tattoo she wears on her ankle or that he won’t pray aloud in groups. We may decide someone is spiritually immature because they don’t pray, dress, or practice faith in the way we do. We aren’t to judge believers who practice their faith in ways different than us. “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly” ( John 7:24). He’d begged his doctor for permission to come that weekend to hear his favorite speaker. That assessment flipped 180 degrees when the man’s wife told him her husband was very ill and heavily medicated. Obviously, this man lacked spiritual interest. But she may be a single mother working two jobs and tending a special needs child.Ī conference speaker said he misjudged a man who sat on the front row and slept through most of his lectures. We may assume the late mom is irresponsible.

Only God knows what is in a person’s heart and the effort it takes to function where they are.

Or we may project good motives on someone in order to avoid conflict. He may have just learned his spouse is unfaithful or his child has leukemia-or both. We may assign bad motives to someone who ignores us when, in reality, he is fighting hidden battles. The Bible says we can’t judge what is in someone’s heart. Love is the proper motivation for not judging and for using good judgment. The passage where Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” ( Matthew 7:1) goes on to show us how to have discernment. By implication, it means to condemn, punish-avenge, conclude. It also carries the idea of having discernment. We can be there in our imaginations as we allow the Christmas story to hearten our spirits.To judge means: to separate, to pick out, select, choose. to Bethlehem” situates the singer both among the shepherds who rushed to see Christ and in the great continuation of the “faithful” that have traveled to Bethlehem in a spiritual nature for over 2,000 years.Īlthough today, we cannot actually witness Jesus in the manger, we can come to Bethlehem in a symbolic sense. The encouragement to “come, all ye faithful. The most well-known English translation was done by Frederick Oakeley in 1852. The Latin version, or at least the first two words, meaning 'come you faithful ones,' is recognizable to some of us today, partially because it has been covered by people like Andrea Bocelli, Bing Crosby, and Nat King Cole.

The exact origins of the original hymn are not known, but it was most likely composed by John Francis Wade in the middle of the eighteenth century. 'O Come, All Ye Faithful' is an adaptation of a Latin hymn Adeste Fidelis.

Ye meaning