One day I was sitting and thinking of all the sins I have committed, the mistakes I have made, the foolish words I have spoken, the wrong decisions I have made, and I was overwhelmed! I realised once again that it was just this amazing grace from God that saved a wretch like me. But then I also realised what pain and hurt I would have caused others knowingly and unknowingly, and I felt like disappearing into nothingness. I thought of this more, and understood that we are all in a similar situation, and the difference is that some realise this, and others walk around as if there is nothing wrong with them. This second group of people are quick to take up stones and throw them at others at the very first opportunity. I know I have also done this, like everyone else, because that is a part of our sinful nature, inherited from our ancestors (Ge.3:12).
"But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her'" (Jn.8:7). The more aware we are about our past sins and our present fallibility, the slower we will be in wanting to condemn others. In reverse, if we are quick at judging others, we must know that the more serious problem is that we have not seen ourselves in the light of God. If we have not learnt the habit of constantly examining ourselves as we read the word of God, and letting the Holy Spirit bring conviction to us in our heart, that is a sad state as a Christian. In theory we may admit we are imperfect, but if we don't really believe that, it will be seen in the way we focus entirely on the faults of others.
Certainly, the others have their faults. It is also true that we suffer from the sins and mistakes of others. We do have to think about such things and decide what we need to do. But if we are brooding all the time about how bad the others are, or how much we are suffering, we would have missed the whole point of sanctification, the second phase of our salvation, where we are to be increasingly set free from the hold of sin in our thinking, speaking, doing and imaginations, and be transformed into the nature of Christ. We may claim that we have been born again, or even that we are active in church. But we are not thinking of bearing fruit for Jesus.
Do we think that the fruit of the Holy Spirit will come automatically to us? God, the Gardener, sees that we are affected by rotting leaves, drying branches, weeds around us and pests trying to destroy us, and He is always in the business of pruning us. All that is un-Christ-like in us has to be pruned away in order to replace them with love, joy, peace, etc. (Ga.5:22,23). If we want this fruit, we must at least be willing to admit where we need pruning. We need to become sensitive towards the voice of the Holy Spirit telling us where we are going wrong, and then ask for His help for our transformation (Ro.8:13,14). Above all, we must truly want to be changed.
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