I’ll be traveling and taking some vacation time through November 15th, so Purposed worKING will be revisiting some earlier posts until then…

“So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.”

I was sitting in a meeting the other day and I listened to one person condemn another (of course the person being condemned was not in the room) and without hesitation another person jumped on the the bandwagon to be shortly followed by another person. It was a bit of a bloodbath. With one small push back that maybe this wasn’t a fully fair assessment that was taking place, everyone backed down and adjusted their stance. This interaction reminded me of how easy it is to tear someone down and how hard it is to get people to instead build others up. We are quick to condemn and we are fast to pass the blame and tag others for maybe what we should be stepping up and owning ourselves. I’ve found that those who fluidly condemn others are not the same people who take accountability and accept their lumps when they should. These are also the same people who others either fear or even avoid because they worry that whatever is being said about others is also said about them when they leave the room.

Paul knew how easy it is for people to be condemning when he point blank denounced it in Romans when he was talking to those who he was working with; “So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.” That Paul had to say such a thing to the believers he was working with, only reinforces how he knew that we easily condemn and do so without the regard we should have for others. Today, think about how much condemning is going on around your office and reflect on what part you might be playing or what you can do to bring the condemnation down.

Reference: Romans 14:13 (New Living Testament)