Stop Judging My Girl!

This picture doesn't really go with this post aceept "My Girl" is a reference to me and this is me.

But hey, I like this picture. Made me smileand so I'm putting it here. :0)

“For He made Him who knew no sin, to become sin for us,

that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Last week was in a word, horrible. I made mistakes left and right, got angry at a friend, got furious at Noah and looked at John as if I wanted to do him bodily harm. I didn’t meet a writing goal and failed as a leader. By Sunday, I was the president of the Robbie Iobst is a Bad Person Club.

Humans are naturally legalists. When Eve and then Adam sinned by eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, humans began believing that we are qualified to judge. So we have these narratives going on in our minds of what it means to be “good.”

One of the narratives that I have grown up with is:

I am responsible for results. I work hard and then I get rewarded.

When I put this narrative in the context of living my life for God, it just doesn’t work. The true narrative according to the Word of God is:

I work hard to honor God because God is honored by faithfulness, not results.

But I, along with many of you, am results oriented. Nothing wrong with this per say, except that it makes us believe we have God-like power in many situations. Things go well, we are confident and competent. Things go wrong, we are failures.

According to Brennan Manning in his book Abba’s Child, we often believe that “God is the best version of us.” Since my feelings toward someone is usually based on how they feel about me, and since God is just a better version than me, then God feels about me based on my behavior that day. If I did well, God loves me. If I mess up and feel I am a failure, well, God agrees.

Do you follow this logic? It’s difficult because the kingdom of God is an upside-down version of our culture. God adores us. Period. We live in grace and if we’ve made a decision to make Jesus Lord of our lives, God sees us as hidden in Christ, in His Righteousness. Ergo, God may allow suffering and He may use circumstances to help us grow in Him, but God is not up there judging our every move. He is a God of love that seeks our best.

God is for me! But as a legalist, I judge myself constantly. I messed up here, so I am less than. I didn’t get the results I wanted so I am not a success.

Lies!

Early in our marriage, I would often call myself Stupid. I would stumble or drop something and just offhandedly say, “Come on, Stupid.” After a long while of this, John stopped me one day and laid down the law. “Robbie, no one talks to my wife that way. Not even you.” I stopped it. Today I can almost hear my Father in heaven say, “Robbie, no one judges my girl that way. Not even you.”

Join me, look at yourself and see what God sees. A righteous (because of Christ,) loved, redeemed, cherished, blessed, chosen, forgiven child of God! Change your narrative from trying to control life to being faithful to God in whatever is in front of you.

I am resigning as president of the Robbie is a Bad Person Club and will not accept the nomination of my party for a second term. Instead, I’m renewing my membership in the God Adores Me League. There’s no judging allowed at those meetings. And the snacks are great.