{"id":7960,"date":"2017-08-07T01:44:50","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T01:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7960"},"modified":"2017-12-05T03:09:39","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T03:09:39","slug":"concerning-the-fine-art-of-pettiness-and-nitpicking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7960","title":{"rendered":"Concerning the fine art of pettiness and nitpicking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c<\/em>I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.\u201d Luke 7:28<\/em><\/p>\n

After documenting how Jesus honored John the Baptist while also commending those who hungrily sought after the kingdom of God, Luke penned an observation about the religious ruling class:<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/em>the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God\u2019s purpose for themselves\u2026<\/em>Luke 7:30a<\/p>\n

Quite honestly, that\u2019s a frightening statement. They had rejected God\u2019s purpose for themselves. In their ambition for religious superiority and precision, they had discarded the very reason for religious pursuits\u2014embracing God and His purposes for their own personal lives.<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t think that since you\u2019re not a Pharisee from back in the day that you, yourself, are immune to drifting into complacency or indifference toward God, and as a result (and even far worse), rejection of God and His purpose for you.<\/p>\n

The writer of Hebrews warned about that: \u201cFor this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it<\/strong>\u201d <\/em>(Hebrews 2:1). Drifting away can snowball into \u201cI don\u2019t care\u201d <\/em>which can, in turn, roll right down the hill into utter rejection of God’s purpose for you. Every one of us must guard ourselves vigilantly against this drifting, snowball effect.<\/p>\n

To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like?<\/em>\u00a0 <\/em>Luke 7:31<\/p>\n

I can picture Jesus, the foremost People Watcher of all time, observing these self-proclaimed holy ones with near amusement.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s take a look at these people\u2026what do they remind you of?\u201d <\/em>I can just hear Him saying this with a smile tugging at the corner of His mouth. He\u2019s about to give some telltale signs of drifting, apathy, and God-rejection in otherwise religious souls.<\/p>\n

Telltale Sign #1<\/strong> of drifting, apathy, and heading down the road toward God-rejection:<\/p>\n

Publicly calling others <\/b>out<\/b> for not marching to your personal drumbeat.<\/b><\/p>\n

They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, \u201cWe played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.\u201d <\/em>Luke 7:32<\/p>\n

Notice, the complaint here had nothing to do with the love walk, ethics, morality, or Scriptural deviation of those in question. The public complaint was petty and nitpicking: \u201cYou\u2019re not playing the way we play. You\u2019re not conforming to the way we like do things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The areas of pettiness that people can embrace are unending: How others dress, wear their hair, eat or don\u2019t eat, exercise or don\u2019t exercise, talk, spend money or don\u2019t spend money, music choices, differing personal interests\u2014these are just the tip of the iceberg as to the things we believers can end up judging others about.<\/p>\n

The message here is clear. Once you start majoring on the minors, you are drifting from God. If you catch yourself doing this, turn around; run, don\u2019t walk, back to the Lord. Sure, you have your own interests and style (or lack thereof!). But are you really<\/em> commissioned by God to call others out for being different than you?<\/p>\n

Telltale sign #2 <\/strong>of drifting, apathy, and heading down the road toward God-rejection:<\/p>\n

Negatively labeling others who follow a more<\/em> stringent spirituality than you do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, \u201cHe has a demon!\u201d Luke 7:33 <\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe you like your cheeseburgers and beer\u2026but the guy (or gal) who abstains from meat or alcohol due to conscience really irks you. Instead of letting them pursue God in their own way, you find yourself wanting to label their abstinence as some kind of spiritual weirdness to justify yourself and make you feel like you\u2019re the normal one.<\/p>\n

Newsflash:\u00a0You’re the petty<\/em> one. \u201c\u2026To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand<\/em>\u201d (Romans 14:4b). If you catch yourself feeling the need to mock or label someone else\u2019s stricter walk, you are majoring on the minors and are drifting off course. Again, turn around! Run, don\u2019t walk, back to your Father and ask Him to forgive and cleanse your critical heart.<\/p>\n

Telltale sign #3 <\/strong>of drifting, apathy, and heading down the road toward God-rejection:<\/p>\n

Negatively labeling others who are less<\/em> strict in their personal habits than you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, \u201cBehold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!\u201d <\/em>Luke 7:34<\/p>\n

Jesus enjoyed eating. He drank wine. He reached out to the \u201cuntouchables\u201d of religious society. And yet, as Scripture says, He was without sin (see Hebrews 4:15). Nonetheless, there were those who abhorred His freedom and sought to diminish His impact by labeling Him a glutton and a drunkard. Never mind that He was not addicted to either food or alcohol; the truth didn\u2019t matter. If they could create a perception, they were hopeful that the gullible would buy it\u2026and they could regain their control over the \u201clittle people\u201d.<\/p>\n

You may have it all together. You may walk a straight line without deviating from your P’s and Q’s. But when you bump into another believer who seems a bit loose\u2014they seem to romp through life with an abandon that offends your carefully disciplined routine\u2014you are convinced that they\u2019re \u201coff\u201d. \u00a0And you find yourself labeling them \u201cglutton\u201d; \u201cdrunkard\u201d; \u201cshallow\u201d; \u201cloose\u201d; \u201cundisciplined\u201d; or any other number of labels.<\/p>\n

Yes, you, too, have become a nitpicker. You have judged your brother on his outward appearance, and as a result, you\u2019ve set yourself up as superior and as Judge\u2014a job-title belonging to God alone.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong: There is nothing wrong with personal discipline. \u201cIt is for discipline that you endure<\/em>\u201d (Hebrews 12:7a, NASB). But when you start to feel superior to others because<\/em> of your disciplined ways, this is a telltale sign that you have started drifting away from the One who enabled you to be disciplined in the first place!<\/p>\n

And\u2014you guessed it\u2014you are now majoring on the minors and have veered off course. Once again, turn around! Run, don\u2019t walk, back to the Lord who pulled you out of the pit where He once found you, and ask Him to forgive you of your condescending attitude.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/sup>\u2026Wisdom is vindicated by all her children<\/em>. Luke 7:35<\/p>\n

When you keep the main thing the main thing\u2014justice and mercy and faithfulness (see Matthew 23:23), and cast the care of all those different than you on the Lord\u2014you\u2019ll find a greater peace and wellspring of joy rising up within you. It\u2019s good<\/em> not to be God! God <\/em>is God\u2014and He\u2019s a lot better at it than you could ever be!<\/p>\n

Those who don\u2019t dance to your music; those who stay home when you party; those who feast when you fast\u2014let them be. It could very well be that they have been following God with a full heart all along\u2026and He will vindicate them in the end. Even if they are<\/em> “off”, God will reveal that to them and deal with them as His children (see Philippians 3:15 and Hebrews 12:7).<\/p>\n

And His wisdom in them will become visible to you one day when you observe all the good fruit pouring out of their lives.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, be the person God created you<\/em> to be, and live for His glory.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.<\/em> Romans 14:3<\/p>\n

Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.<\/em> Romans 14:4<\/p>\n

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,<\/em> so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ<\/em>\u2026Philippians 1:9-10<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 2017, Dorothy Frick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.\u201d Luke 7:28 After documenting how Jesus honored John the Baptist while also commending those who hungrily sought after the kingdom of God, Luke penned an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[534],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bk-of-luke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7960"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8066,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7960\/revisions\/8066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}