November 5, 2021Dear friends,
“We came across this powerful story and wanted to share it with you: ‘There was a man who had four sons. He wanted them to learn to not judge things too quickly, so he sent them each on a quest to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. He sent his first son in the winter, his second in the spring, his third in summer and his youngest in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no – it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfilment.
After hearing all his son’s responses, the wise father replied, “Sons, you are all right — because you have each seen only one season in the tree’s life. But you cannot judge a tree, or a person, or anything else by only one season. Most things can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons have come to pass.’”
Brother George observes: “I think each of us has judged someone or something prematurely, and we have also probably experienced the pain of being judged that way. Lord, forgive us! We need to give each other the benefit of the doubt! We need to look closely enough and long enough to see the big picture before we rule things out. Why? Because God does that for us all the time.”
In his Study Bible, Dr. David Jeremiah writes: “It is impossible to know the hidden things that others do when nobody is watching (Eccl. 12:14; Heb. 4:13), as well as the counsels (motivations) of the hearts. The time to judge will be the day when God judges. Anyone who tries to judge others in the meantime will cause great hurt because they will be doing something God never intended for them to do.” The more we study God’s Word, the more we see how much God loves us and how He wants us to proclaim that love in our words and deeds.
Scripture for the weekend: “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” 1 Corinthians 4:5 (NKJV)
Thought for the weekend: “We live in a culture that tends to value people who entertain us more than people who call us to holiness … Very subtly, we can become enamored of our own voices and forget the voice of the One we have been called to proclaim. But the church needs people who are utterly forgettable, people who desire to make the gospel known more so than themselves.” – Donny Friederichsen (from the November 2021 edition of “Tabletalk” magazine, published by Ligonier Ministries)
Steve