I
remember very little of the time I lived in New Jersey. I remember we
had a pool. I remember the food was awesome. I remember getting my first
black eye courtesy of my older brother. One of the things I remember
most was watching my favorite shows. Thundercats, The A-Team, Dukes of
Hazzard, He-Man, Popeye, etcetera, etcetera… One of my absolute
favorites was a show called "Voltron". For those of you who may not
know, Voltron was a giant robot made out of smaller robots that were
piloted by kids. Voltron was pretty swicked. I mean, how cool is that?
Piloting a giant mech of total awesomeness. That would be pretty sweet,
right?
Well, a few years back I was reading a book by C.S. Lewis and I came across a quote that YHVW used to speak volumes to me.
“You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”
Wow! What a thought! We are souls inside of bodies. Our flesh is what contains us, not what makes us! Immediately I thought of Yeshua's words in Matthew 7:
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
So, we are pilots of our bodies, in a sense. We are driving this “machine” in other words. We sit behind our eyes and see and experience things in a way that is unique to all of us. Think about Voltron, each one of the bots had a different pilot. I would be willing to bet that each robot had to be piloted in a different way. None of them maneuvered or react exactly the same as the other.
I believe that this is the reason Yeshua tells us not to judge each other. We all live behind our own eyes. Beyond that, we don’t have a clue where anyone is coming from. We can judge the actions of the wicked because we can see their fruits, but the hearts, the souls, are beyond us. We have absolutely no way of knowing what situations have occurred in their lives or how their “machine” handles. We are called to be patient and loving with each other. Only Yeshua has been there, and only He can cast the kind of judgment that condemns.
I knew a guy in high school who was very rude, almost automatically so, to everyone. Even his closest friends. Well, this guy had a weight problem and, come to find out, he was teased severely over it his whole life. This helped him to create an automatic response that he used to hurt others before they could hurt him. I’m not saying that it was right, just saying that too often we write people off without really taking the time to understand where they’re coming from. Like the girl you called a whore that one time. Well, did you know that she was sexually abused as a child and her response to any tense situation was to react sexually? No, how could you?
That’s why Yeshua said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” –John 8:7
We are responsible for piloting our vessels because we know where we have been and what we are coming from, we have no room to condemn someone else.
We are called a new body in Yeshua. He is the head, we are the body. In Voltron, each individual robot was pretty hardcore on its own, but when they came together, they were unstoppable. If the pilots of the individual pieces were concerned on how the other pilots were handling their bots, Voltron would have never worked. One arm would be too busy trying to cut off the other. We as believers need to find the common ground to work together and move in the same direction. Rebuking in love and moving forward. Otherwise, we will be no good when the time comes for real battle.
Am I saying that we should just excuse wicked behavior? Heavens no! We need to address it at EVERY turn! Nor am I promoting some sort of “we just all need to love each other and hug” kind of existence. We do have every right to judge something as unrighteous, we just need to learn to rebuke in love because we don’t know the whole story. I am also not saying we need to yoke ourselves with unbelievers. We have the truth that they need to learn, but there is no way we can move in the same direction when we “suit up”.
The Law provides the proper punishment for those who live in sin. The problem is that the people carrying out the punishments had to be spotless to carry them out. All of us know who we were and what we came out of. I’m just thinking it’s time to apply that to our understanding of other people. When we reach out to those who have messed up in love and true concern, it oils the gears and helps the machine reach its full potential. All of us, together as one, can do more than the impossible. Remember Yah is the head, all we need to do is follow His lead. So whatta ya say? Let’s suit up.
One Love,
Albert C. Coble
Well, a few years back I was reading a book by C.S. Lewis and I came across a quote that YHVW used to speak volumes to me.
“You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”
Wow! What a thought! We are souls inside of bodies. Our flesh is what contains us, not what makes us! Immediately I thought of Yeshua's words in Matthew 7:
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
So, we are pilots of our bodies, in a sense. We are driving this “machine” in other words. We sit behind our eyes and see and experience things in a way that is unique to all of us. Think about Voltron, each one of the bots had a different pilot. I would be willing to bet that each robot had to be piloted in a different way. None of them maneuvered or react exactly the same as the other.
I believe that this is the reason Yeshua tells us not to judge each other. We all live behind our own eyes. Beyond that, we don’t have a clue where anyone is coming from. We can judge the actions of the wicked because we can see their fruits, but the hearts, the souls, are beyond us. We have absolutely no way of knowing what situations have occurred in their lives or how their “machine” handles. We are called to be patient and loving with each other. Only Yeshua has been there, and only He can cast the kind of judgment that condemns.
I knew a guy in high school who was very rude, almost automatically so, to everyone. Even his closest friends. Well, this guy had a weight problem and, come to find out, he was teased severely over it his whole life. This helped him to create an automatic response that he used to hurt others before they could hurt him. I’m not saying that it was right, just saying that too often we write people off without really taking the time to understand where they’re coming from. Like the girl you called a whore that one time. Well, did you know that she was sexually abused as a child and her response to any tense situation was to react sexually? No, how could you?
That’s why Yeshua said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” –John 8:7
We are responsible for piloting our vessels because we know where we have been and what we are coming from, we have no room to condemn someone else.
We are called a new body in Yeshua. He is the head, we are the body. In Voltron, each individual robot was pretty hardcore on its own, but when they came together, they were unstoppable. If the pilots of the individual pieces were concerned on how the other pilots were handling their bots, Voltron would have never worked. One arm would be too busy trying to cut off the other. We as believers need to find the common ground to work together and move in the same direction. Rebuking in love and moving forward. Otherwise, we will be no good when the time comes for real battle.
Am I saying that we should just excuse wicked behavior? Heavens no! We need to address it at EVERY turn! Nor am I promoting some sort of “we just all need to love each other and hug” kind of existence. We do have every right to judge something as unrighteous, we just need to learn to rebuke in love because we don’t know the whole story. I am also not saying we need to yoke ourselves with unbelievers. We have the truth that they need to learn, but there is no way we can move in the same direction when we “suit up”.
The Law provides the proper punishment for those who live in sin. The problem is that the people carrying out the punishments had to be spotless to carry them out. All of us know who we were and what we came out of. I’m just thinking it’s time to apply that to our understanding of other people. When we reach out to those who have messed up in love and true concern, it oils the gears and helps the machine reach its full potential. All of us, together as one, can do more than the impossible. Remember Yah is the head, all we need to do is follow His lead. So whatta ya say? Let’s suit up.
One Love,
Albert C. Coble
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