Matt 7:1

"Judge not, that you be not judged." Matt 7:1

Someone had this in their email signature and I loved it: "Bless 'em all and let God sort 'em out!"

Of course, this is a take off on the ugly T-Shirt many of us have seen which says, "Kill them all and let God sort them out." Of course, my friend's email signature is more true to scripture.

Jesus tells a story that relates to this idea. He tells about a man who planted a field of wheat. But an enemy came along and sowed Tares (or weeds) in with the wheat. The field hands wanted to go out and rip out all of the weeds, but the owner of the field was wiser than his workers. He said, "No, if you pull out the tares, you might also hurt some of the wheat in the process. Let's just wait for the harvest and then separate the wheat from the tares.

Sometimes Satan comes along and sows discord within Christian communities. Having taken part in a few Christian email discussion lists, I am amazed that often times my secular email list participants are more civil to each other than some of the so-called "Christians" who are downright vicious at times. Certainly, there are a lot of tares in the Christian wheat field.

And, we, as workers in the field, want to immediately rush out and rip them up by the roots. We gossip about the gossipers and hate the haters, and in so doing we simply sow more tares and hurt the innocents around us.

But I wonder what would happen if we did do as my friend advises in his email signature file. What if we did bless them, pray for them, do good for them? Maybe we would could eventually do a little spiritual genetic re-sequencing and turn some tares into wheat. But even if we can't. It's not our job to judge them, it's Gods. So, let's just "bless them all and let God sort them out." Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.