2 Samuel 24:21 - Threshing Floor

Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”  “To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”

God was punishing the Israelites with a plague. 70 thousand had died. David was told by God through a prophet to build an alter at this certain location. When I had envisioned a threshing floor, I had always thought of an indoor wooden floor so I looked up Threshing Floor and found it can also be a flat area outside. A threshing floor is a place where grain is walked on or agitated until the grain comes out of its hull. The "chaff" is blown away by the wind and all that is left is the good grain. It is a symbol for judgement, so there was significance in where the alter was to be made.

Lord, please help me to recognize when you are in the process of "threshing" my life and not hang on to tightly to the chaff. Amen.

1 Corinthians 5:9-10 - Tolerance

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

In this passage, Paul is telling the Corinthian church not to associate with someone who claims to be a brother or sister in Christ, but does not attempt to live like a Christian. In verse 12 Paul says, "What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church."

Lord, please help us to be tolerant of those outside the church, showing only love and kindness, not judgement. Amen.

1 Corinthians 2:15 - Human judgements

The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,

As a person with the Spirit, I am not subject to merely human judgements. I needed to hear this today.

Lord, Thank you for giving me the just the right verse when I need it.  Amen.

Romans 2:1 - Passing judgement

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

In general I think of myself as a tolerant person. I accept people where they are, regardless of their life choices and I hope they will accept my choices as well. But the ridiculous thing is that as grand as my ideas are, it's the little things that trip me up. I get angry at my husband for being careless. I get frustrated with co-workers who don't do something exactly as I would do it. And there is more...but you get the idea.

Lord, thank you for speaking the truth to us. Please help us to not be judgemental. Amen,

Psalm 75:6-7 God is the judge

No one from the east or the west
     or from the desert can exalt themselves.
It is God who judges:
     He brings one down, he exalts another.

We must always remember, our final destination beyond this earth will be decided by God. Our relationship with him is the single most important relationship we have.

Lord, thank you for wanting us to be with you. Help us to always seek you. Amen.

Romans 2:1 - Passing judgement

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

I have a tendency to be judgey. I get wrapped up in what others do and why they are doing it, especially when it effects me. Recently I have been praying to simply not have an opinion. Most of the time, whatever the situation is, it has nothing to do with me, I'm not saying that I will agree with everything others do, I just choose not to have an opinion about it good or bad. If it looks like evil, I might pray for them, but I will not make any assumptions about their character or relationship to God. One of our mottos at work is Assume Good Intent. Even if someone does something we think is wrong, if we just assume good intent, we realize there may be something going on we don't know about causing this to occur. Another friend uses the phrase, "You never know enough." We never know enough about what is going on in a person's life to pass any sort of judgement.

Lord, thank you for loving us and accepting us. Please help us to not pass judgement on others. Amen.