Be Aware

                                                                             

 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
                                                                       1 Corinthians 8:9

           Have you ever thought; I can do whatever I want!  If they can't handle it,  that's their problem.  I have been guilty of thinking that way.  I'm sure you have too.  Doesn't God say we can do whatever we want?  Or... is that something we made up?   

                                                 You can but... 

           Now the Lord is the spirit,  and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we,  who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory,  are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory,  which comes from the Lord,  who is the spirit.
                                                                           2 Corinthians 3:17-18

           A few years ago a neighbor said to me and my sisters that as a Christian we are free and we can do whatever we want.  I agreed with her at the time but,  as I grew older and my relationship with Christ got stronger the logic behind that sounded off.  What the verse says above is that we have freedom when the Holy Spirit dwells in us;  freedom from death and being condemned to Hell, forever apart from God.  Not freedom in buying whatever we want,  watching whatever we want or listening to whatever we want.  It says, 
          "who with unveiled faces all reflect His glory."
          Unveiled means to remove a veil or covering from;  to make public.  Open.  Revealed.  So,  Jesus took off the veil of sin and death and now,  like looking  into a crystal clear lake Jesus has purified us and can see His reflection in us.

            Everyday as we draw closer to Jesus He shows us new things about Him,  and He's changing/transforming our hearts.  God showed me that we can't do anything we want.  If we turned back to our old ways and followed sin again after accepting Jesus, no one would want to spread the gospel because we would be too focused on our own priorities and wants. We need to follow what God wants.

                                                  Watch it!!!

            Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.  Instead,  make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
                                                                   Romans 14:13

         "Oh hon!  You took your son to watch that?!  It's PG-13 and Jordan's only Eleven.  Shame on you!
        
         "Kathy,  It wasn't that bad.  There was only partial nudity and a little violence.  What did you watch over the weekend?"

       " I took Micheal and Jodi to see this movie."

       "Kathy...That's Rated-R.  Micheal's fifteen and Jodi's just turned thirteen."

       "So.  It was very educational."

        Would you say those friends were helping each other in any way?  PG-13 mother wanted to spend time with her son. The movie she watched may have not been the greatest though.  Kathy watched a rated-R movie that was far from "educational."

        Kathy knew that PG-13 mom shouldn't have taken her son to watch that.  There were better choices.  But Kathy watched a movie that was just as bad or worse!  This made PG-13 mom feel horrible and like she wasn't a very good mother.  She began to question her parenting skills.  What makes Kathy better then me?

       These are fictional characters but,  this happens.  We may judge someone harshly for what they're doing but then,  we turn around and do something just as bad or worse and that causes the other person to stumble.

       What does Jesus mean exactly about passing judgment?  He doesn't want us to judge someone like telling them they're wrong and that they should be ashamed or they're going to Hell!  Instead we need to stand back and let God work.  We need to pray for them.

      Earlier I talked about freedom.  How can "freedom become a stumbling block to the weak?"  Well,  if you knew that a friend struggles with immoral sexuality and you took them to watch a movie chalk full of sex and it didn't bother you...what about her?  Or vice versa, you struggle with eating issues and you're trying to lose weight so you're trying to stay away from certain foods and your friend takes you out to eat at a place that has only food you're trying to stay away from.  It doesn't bother her but...what about you?

       Jesus wants us to be aware of others.  You may be free from a certain sin but someone next to you may still be in the midst of overcoming it.  Do the things we say and do lead others down a path away from God?  That is why we need to continually spend time with God,  reading His word and talking to Him.  When you seek Him continually He will reveal more of Himself to you and transform you so,  you won't want to do what you want and let everyone else deal with it.  You will want to do what Christ wants and become aware of their struggles and needs.