Daily Devotional, Year 3 – March 7 (Thou Art Weighed in the Balances! Part 3: “Judge Nothing!”)
By admin On February 10th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – March 7
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Thou Art Weighed in the Balances!
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Part 3:
“Judge Nothing!”
To read Part 1, click here…October 29th (Thou Art Weighed in the Balances…)
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“Therefore judge nothing before the time,
until the Lord come,
who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness,
and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts:
and then shall every man have praise of God.”
1st Corinthians 4:5
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
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In the Book of Daniel, is that infamous story of King Belshazzar, King Nebuchadnezzar’s son (some say grandson).
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Yes, on that fateful night, as Belshazzar hosted a grand feast, Belshazzar saw, “the hand-writing on the wall”.
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It was Belshazzar’s Judgment Day! God was letting the king know that his time of probation on earth had come to an end!
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And his sins had been weighed on the scales of justice, against the knowledge God had given him!
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
Belshazzar’s Feast – Rembrandt – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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“WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES…AND FOUND WANTING (LACKING)”
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And lo-and-behold, right in the middle of the party, a hand wrote on the wall, “Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting (lacking).”
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These frightful words were merely the beginning of Belshazzar’s night of terror, as the enemies of Babylon were just about to break right through those so-called, “impregnable” Babylonish walls!
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
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WE TOO WILL BE WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES!
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And this story stands as a frightful warning to all Christians, that our Judgment Day is not slumbering!
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And we must strive to improve upon our present daily circumstances, to expel our earthly ways, and become transformed into the likeness of Jesus!
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Listen… “And every man that hath this hope in Him (to meet the Lord in peace), purifies himself, even as He (Jesus) is pure.” 1st John 3:3
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And so, this devotional will attempt to spotlight a very common sin, which is so grievous to the Lord, that when weighed in the balances will only condemn us on our night of reckoning!
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
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“JUDGE NOT THAT YE BE NOT JUDGED!”
Matthew 7:1
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Our signature Bible passage is from 1st Corinthians 4:4, 5, in which Paul is warning us not to judge anything!
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Listen again to 1st Corinthians 4:4, 5…
“For I know nothing by myself;
yet am I not hereby justified:
but He that judgeth me is the Lord.
Therefore judge nothing before the time,
until the Lord come,
who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness,
and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts:
and then shall every man have praise of God.”
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Notice that it does not merely say, “Judge NOBODY”.
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No, it says, “Judge NOTHING!”
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
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JUDGE NOTHING…NOTHING!
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This statement, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord 
come,”, goes beyond judging people only. Oh yes, we must fearfully refrain from judging the heart of any one individual person! That is our first and foremost duty as a Christian.
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But this warning from Paul goes beyond merely judging any individual person’s heart, and even goes to the point of judging anything and everything.
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That’s right! We are counseled here to judge nothing in this world, at this present time!
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
Finger pointing – Wikimedia – Public domain
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“LET US DO EVIL, THAT GOOD MAY COME?”
Romans 3:8
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Now at this point someone will obviously object, saying, “So then, we can engage in all sorts of evil behavior, because we cannot make judgments! Right!?”
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Obviously, Paul was not saying that! Of course, we must make personal choices concerning our own behavior!
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That is a foregone conclusion!
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But we are counseled by God, through Paul, that we just cannot know how God is using these things in this wicked world for His ultimate and eternal purpose.
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
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“THINGS TOO HIGH FOR ME”
Psalm 131:1
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For instance, we understand that television is not a spiritually healthy thing to watch.
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It has little or no redeeming qualities about it, as far as many Christians are concerned. But God has allowed this invention to exist for His own eternal purpose. And so, as we see other people watching 
it, we must not condemn them, realizing our own limited knowledge and understanding.
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Oh yes, we might warn other Christians of the dangers of watching TV.
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But to judge them and their television watching is not our commission from God.
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(And even when the unsaved or worldly-minded family members beg the Christian to join them, the case may be made that such a compromise might prayerfully be the wise thing to do on occasion.)
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
TV icon novela svg. – Wikimedia –
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“LOOK STRAIGHT BEFORE THEE”
Proverbs 4:25
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And so, in a sense, we Christians must put on our spiritual blinders, just as they put blinders on horses when crossing a bridge.
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We cannot be looking to the right or the left, but we must fix our gaze upon Heaven, and upon Heaven’s Jesus, as we continue on our Heavenward sojourn.
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Horse blinkers – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
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“THEY HAVE SOUGHT OUT MANY INVENTIONS”
Ecclesiastes 7:29
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Well, there are many other examples of how we cannot condemn the things that God has allowed others to partake of.
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I just need to judge what is good or bad for my own self, and let God be the Judge of the world.
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Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
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“FIRST CAST THE BEAM OUT OF THINE OWN EYE!”
Matthew 7:5
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Now again, this does not mean that we cannot warn others of the things of this evil world. To preach the Gospel is one of our God-ordained duties!
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But we really need to use spiritual discernment when doing so.
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But there is enough sin in my own life to keep me busy until the Lord returns (very soon)! And there isn’t enough time to take on the sins of others! And as Paul said, “Yea, I judge not my own self!”
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Yes, even though Paul was painfully aware of many of his weak spots of character, he refused to take on a self-confident attitude.
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In other words, he realized that there might be “secret faults” he was not aware of.
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Girl Praying – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“CLEANSE THOU ME FROM SECRET FAULTS”
Proverbs 19:12
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Yes, my own heart must first be cleansed.
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And so, Paul, no doubt, continually prayed along with Psalm 139…“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139
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And as Christians, we must take the very same stance concerning our own life! Only God can show us just what evil might be lurking in the deep recesses of our heart!
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Prayer – USMC – Wikimedia – US Govt. Public Domain
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SATAN STEALS OUR PERFECT PEACE
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One great problem with listening to Satan’s whisperings, is that this is how this “Accuser of our Brethren” gains access into our hearts and minds. And once we allow him access, he often begins to torment us with all sorts of “evil surmisings” about the motives of others. (1st 
Timothy 6:4)
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We must remember the Wise Man’s advice…
“Keep thy heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a froward mouth,
and perverse lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on,
and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet,
and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:
remove thy foot from evil.”
Proverbs 4:24-27
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Yes, to guard the avenues to the soul, not allowing Satan any access, is our first and foremost duty!
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“GOOD NEWS!”
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But the Good News is, that God is willing and able to sit as the Purifier of our 
hearts.
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And we must continue in patience and faith, as He continues this purifying process, so that we may say along with Job…“But He (God) knows the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10
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Yes, this is the true great commission from God: to allow Him to purify and transform our desperately wicked hearts into the likeness of Jesus Christ!
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And there’s no earthly gold as precious as that!
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to judge my own life, and change whatever is displeasing to Thee…
Scale of justice – by Wikimedia & user-DTR – Public Domain
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…“July 9th (Examine Yourselves!)”, or you can also read… “September 30th (How To Spot The Biggest Sinner!)”, or you can also read…August 13 (Come Out of Her, My People! Part 17: Judging & Criticizing)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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GOSPEL INSCRIBED ON THE MOON
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The Bible states… “It (God’s Covenant) shall be established for ever as the Moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven (sky). Selah.” Psalm 89:37
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God’s Covenant (The Gospel) has been inscribed in the sky. In the night sky, predominantly. It has been established “as the Moon, and as a faithful witness…”.
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That there would be “signs in the Sun… moon, and…stars” (Luke 21:25) just before the end, was a promise made by God.
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But we didn’t know exactly what those signs would be (although many thought they knew).
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Nor did we realize that these signs would be pointing us to present Bible truths!
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Lunar Eclipse by Jiyang Chen & Wikipedia – share-alike license. Click for link.
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“THE SCORNER (THE PHARISEE)”
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“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, AN EVIL EYE, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:18-23
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Please tilt your head to the left. Do you see a man with a very long pointed nose. 
(Obviously, the sketch to the right is just an exaggeration in order to help you find the face in the photo to the left.)
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Do you see an angry look? His right eye-brow is raised as if he is judging.
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This second face in the Moon appears to be that of a combination of a man as well as a fox. Or maybe a wolf. Doesn’t he have a long narrow nose like a wolf or fox? Maybe even a dog. Nevertheless, the expression on his face, as he appears to look down upon the Earth, is that of scorn. Unlike the first Moon-man’s sad shock and awe; this ‘man/fox/wolf/dog’ appears to be that of anger and scorn. As if he is disgusted at the sinful planet below.
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He is very moral, you see!
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… 2nd Moon Face (The Pharisee Scorner)…
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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TOMORROW:
March 8 (Add Thou Not! Part 3: “You Bet Your Soul!”)
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90-MINUTE OPEN FORUM
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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO LISTEN TO THIS 90-MINUTE OPEN FORUM, A QUESTION/ANSWER CALL-IN, TALK SHOW.
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The Open Forum Harold Camping April 23, 2002 (youtube.com)
above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain