Episode 41: God Changed My Heart | Being Judgmental at Church vs Loving Like Jesus

Do you ever struggle with being judgmental? I want to be transparent about some things that annoyed me at church, but how the Holy Spirit convicted me and changed my heart.

I was being judgmental, but I’m grateful that God showed me a new perspective and softened my heart.

I hope this can help you recognize maybe some ways that your heart is hard (something we all struggle with as humans) so that you also can have a change in heart.

We are all a work in progress, we all need to become more like Jesus.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” - Ezekiel 36:26

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey friends, it's Stephanie here with Only God Podcast, sharing stories only God can write. Thank you so much for your time today. And I want to ask you a question: is do you have a hard heart? And specifically in this one area. And the reason why I want to talk about it today is because this is me. Um, the Lord has really worked in this area on me, but I still have a long ways to go. And I feel like it is something that Christians struggle with it, whether you recognize it or not. So if you're watching this and you're like, this is not me, I would ask that you pray that the Holy Spirit reveal areas of this where it is you, because I think uh as Christians, we are all like this. And this is being judgmental. My giving journey, giving a gift every day for 522 days and almost every day since has really changed my heart in a lot of ways in being judgmental and just really praying and trying to see people as Jesus sees people. But it is still difficult. You know, we all are sinners, we have a sinful heart and a sinful nature. And I had something happen in church probably a month ago or so, and so much so is I took a little note when I got into my car. And so if you see me glancing down, that's why. Because I got to my car and I was like, thank you, God. It is only God that could change my heart in several things that happened one morning in church, but also if I zoomed out, um, how God changed my heart and convicted the Holy Spirit convicted me immediately on something and I was able to like change my ways in an instant. And so I serve on our coffee bar and I love it. I get to meet a lot of people. I've made a lot of friends serving on the coffee bar, but also when you serve, it kind of overflows into the service. And I love our church because we have multiple areas where you can sit without going in the sanctuary and still hear the worship music and the sermon. And so a lot of times when I get done serving, is I will just sit out in the lobby in one of these little places. And when I first started doing this, I gotta admit, there was a lot of things that really annoyed me. And I'll give you two. One was kids running around and screaming. Like, I was so annoyed by this. Now, I'm gonna be very transparent, is I don't have kids, and so that could just be it of like why I get annoyed by kids just screaming in church and running around in the sanctuary. Also, my father would have never allowed that, and so it's just like again, judgmental. But this time, this week, as I was sitting there, like I realized my heart so had changed two kids running around, being loud, laughing, screaming in the lobby. And my heart, and my first thought was not I'm annoyed, which that's what it had often been, is that what a gift. Like how amazing that parents are bringing their children into church. And I will say a lot of times it is the dads who are not all the time, but I see a lot of dads who are out in the lobby and they're walking around with their kids and they're playing with their kids. And I even think that, like, one, grateful for these guys who hopefully are giving those mamas a little rest while they're like in the sanctuary and getting, you know, poured into them. But also like dads are in church with their children and they're just outside playing. And so it's just this beautiful moment that I really started to look and say, oh my gosh, it is so cool. Like, I'm grateful that we have a space where kids can come and parents can be with their kids outside the sanctuary, but they can still hear the worship music and still hear um the sermon. And so that was one where I was just when I got to my car, I was like, thank you. Only God could change my heart from like being annoyed to being grateful and seeing the beauty in this like scenario that was happening. The other thing was is people talking. So I happened to be sitting one week and there were these two women and they were just talking, they were talking so loud, and I wanted to be like, I'm trying to listen to the sermon, like I can't even focus. And like again, annoyed, judging. And this week there happened to be a couple of women sitting next to me and they were talking. And even when one of the women got up, she uh like apologized, was like, Oh, I'm so sorry. We were talking. I know you were trying to watch the sermon. And I was just like, no, I loved it because I've again, it was the mindset shift, God changing my heart of like, no, there are two women connecting in the lobby, like, just seemed like they were supporting each other, seemed like maybe one of them had been going through a difficult time. And I just thought how beautiful. And it also seemed like it wasn't planned. And so I think that in looking around, it's just like only God can make these little moments and the right people show up at church at the right time, or maybe your friends there at a right service, and um you're able to talk to them. And so, anyways, I looked at it of not being annoyed this time, but just like beautiful and what a gift that these two women could come together. And a lot of times, you know, church, which I love our pastors in the sermon, in the praise and worship, but even more than that is connecting with brothers and sisters in Christ, connecting with people that we know, connecting people that we don't know, loving on people. And then I'm gonna share this last instance. This is all in the same morning, of where I still had a judgmental heart. The Holy Spirit convicted me, and I was able to change that heart almost immediately in my thoughts. So I'm out in the lobby, and um actually I hadn't even gotten seated yet, and I saw this lady come through to go to the bathroom, and I gotta admit, I just judged her of how she was dressed. She had like really tall socks on up to her knees. She had these big like heels on. I don't know. I just, I was very judgmental in this moment of, and it wasn't even like, I can't believe you're wearing that to church, but it was, I don't even know what I was thinking. But I just want to share this and be very transparent because I want you to be able to recognize in this in yourself and pray that the Holy Spirit convicts you of these moments. And she went into the bathroom and I was immediately convicted. Like, Stephanie, who are you to judge this woman? Like, she's a sister in Christ, or even if she's a non-believer, like you should be loving on her, you should be showing her, you know, affection and showing God's love, being like Jesus and not judging this person. And so when she came out of the bathroom, I just approached her and I complimented her on her outfit because I really did love her dress. And she's very stylish. And so it was just like I one, I think it's only God like we can have the courage to go up to strangers and two, just talk to them. And she got to share a little bit with me about her life. I got to hug her, we got to say a quick prayer. She really wanted to get back into the sanctuary, which I love that. So that was just another example of like two, where my heart had already been changed and I had recognized that change and grateful for the change. But then the third, just that always like, we are a work in progress. None of us are ever gonna be perfect, but we should always be working towards getting our heart more like Jesus and loving like he did and living like he did. And so I just want to say, today is that is my prayer for you, is that you can go out and love and live a little bit more like Jesus. Have a fabulous day. Hey friends, thank you for joining me today on the Only God podcast. I hope today's story encouraged your faith and reminded you that God is still writing our stories each and every day. If you were inspired by this episode, please share, subscribe, and tell a friend. And to stay connected with me and find out about all my books and resources and events, go to shineforwardcreative.com. Have a fabulous day.