Hebrews 12:6-12 For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes. You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline? Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God's children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all].

Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded [to them] and respected [them for training us]. Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father of spirits and so [truly] live? For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.

For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness--in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God]. So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees.

Right here is the KEY. God's judgment to His children is for our profit!! That we might be conformed to His image, and join in true fellowship with Him. The spiritual process God brings about in those who will submit to the operations of the Holy Spirit in their lives... is the only way that we can be partakers of God's holiness. We have accepted teachings that told us that salvation was the end... that we had arrived. We have been misled. Salvation, acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is not the end, it is the beginning. We have received the seed... now we must grow-up in Christ to maturity. Psalms 7:11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. We need to know that we are called to be sons and daughters of the Most High. God desires for us to grow up and reach our full potential in HIM. We see in 1 Peter 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

My friends, we are called to do exactly the same thing. To live our lives in this world as unto the Lord. To accomplish this... is impossible in our own flesh... by our own understanding (what seems good in our eyes). This is why Jesus sent the Comforter... the Spirit of Truth... to help us, leading us into God's Truth. If we will but trust in God with our entire being; if we will stop resisting and submit to the operations of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will reach maturity. We will be transformed by the power of His Spirit, accomplishing all that God desires for us to be and do.

There is far too much carnal judgment going on. We tend to gather together in groups of like-minded individuals. We feel that we have achieved some level of insight or understanding of the scriptures... excluding those who think differently than we do. By our unity and numbers, we are emboldened to label others as sinners and ourselves as righteous. "If they would just come around to our way of thinking, then everything would be alright." In reality, this conduct only serves to isolate us from the very ones we should be helping. We categorize people according to their outward appearance... drunkard, druggie, troublemaker, and shun them, as if association with them might rub off on us, or tarnish the righteous image we are trying to maintain. Why do you suppose that most Christians would be horrified if asked to meet someone in a bar or nightclub? "Well, Christians don't go to those kind of places." Maybe something is out of kilter with our whole program. Jesus would, and did. Christians today act more like the Pharisees of old, than the Son of God. The religious leaders accused Jesus of being a drunkard (winebibber) and friend of notoriously bad men. Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking [with others], and they say, Behold, a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and [especially wicked] sinners! Yet wisdom is justified and vindicated by what she does (her deeds) and by her children. Just how much of 'God's Wisdom' are we actually demonstrating?

John 8:15-16 You [set yourselves up to] judge according to the flesh (by what you see). [You condemn by external, human standards.] I do not [set Myself up to] judge or condemn or sentence anyone. Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true [My decision is right]; for I am not alone [in making it], but [there are two of Us] I and the Father, Who sent Me.

You might notice that Jesus did not rail against the people the religious leaders considered sinners. He did however, strongly come against those who 'claimed' to know all about God, the religious leaders themselves. The Church is not charged to judge anyone outside of the Church. Well that would certainly put a new spin on things. We see in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate [closely and habitually] with unchaste (impure) people-- Not [meaning of course that you must] altogether shun the immoral people of this world, or the greedy graspers and cheats and thieves or idolaters, since otherwise you would need to get out of the world and human society altogether! But now I write to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of [Christian] brother if he is known to be guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater [whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God], or is a person with a foul tongue [railing, abusing, reviling, slandering], or is a drunkard or a swindler or a robber. [No] you must not so much as eat with such a person. What [business] of mine is it and what right have I to judge outsiders? Is it not those inside [the church] upon whom you are to pass disciplinary judgment [passing censuring sentence on them as the facts require]? God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside. Drive out that wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].

Some of us would do well to climb down from our high horses and ivory towers... Judgment belongs to God... not us. We might see more positive results if we spent more time demonstrating God's love through our lives, than by setting ourselves up as judges. We are called to seek after the Lord, and leave judgment in His hands.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God's providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.

If we would begin to fulfill that which is our duty, we would find that we have our hands full. It is only when we are operating from the realm of the flesh, that we feel at liberty to dispense judgment with a free hand. We have seen from the scriptures...