How do we judge others’ relationship with God?
John 9:35-38
35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “ Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” 38 And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.
Again, I find a point in here that we most commonly we would skip over and get to the “good stuff.” In fact, I was trying to make this passage longer, but God kept tugging my heart to only talk about these few verses today. On the surface, this interaction between Jesus and the once blind man seems quite mundane. We know from the story that the man never saw Jesus because he was blind and had to walk to a spring to clean the mud off and obviously Jesus had left by then. So what’s the big deal? The big deal is that the man believed in Jesus before knowing who He was.
I’ve wondered a lot lately about people who believe in God and even believe that He loves us but get hung up on the name. At first, my thoughts were that they don’t truly believe. They don’t truly believe because they don’t’ jump up and down shouting “Jesus” over and over again. (I’m being dramatic, I know, but follow me on this one.) How often do we judge others and their faith (or perceived lack of it) because they do not talk and act the way we do?
First of all, an individual’s relationship with God and understanding of Jesus is between them and God. As I’ve spoken lately (even yesterday) about the purpose of not basing your faith or relationship with God on others, we need to recognize that it works both ways. We don’t have it all figured out either, so who are we to move in and tell someone they are doing it wrong? In fact, we see that happening in this story, the Pharisees were telling the man that whoever it was that healed him, presumably Jesus, was nobody special. So, who is it that revealed Jesus to the man? Jesus Himself! Why? Because it isn’t up to us. The relationship is sacred between the man and God, period.
Some may think that I’m trying to justify other religions or ways of thinking. Quite frankly, the point is that it doesn’t matter what others believe. In recognizing an omnipotent God, we cannot deny that He has control of it all. Our belief and faith comes from Him and because it does, it is not up to us to judge others because of their faith or level of it. As evangelical Christians (using the term to explain who I am speaking about), our charge is to tell others about the Gospel of Christ. Not convince them, not trick them, but love them. Eventually, as they are walking around with their newfound sight Jesus will ask, “do you believe?” and their reply will be “yes” and they will worship Him in the manner for which He designed them.
How do you treat others who do not seem to believe the same thing as you? Do you scoff at them or look down upon them? Do you love them or do you treat them as if they have something missing?
