Today's Meditation
Read Romans 2:1-11
Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. 2You say, “We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.” 3Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: 7to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. 9There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11For God shows no partiality.
There is a list of things that should not be a part of someone's life, heart, spirit, sould in verses 1:29-31. "They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless." Do you think this is an exhaustive list? Probably not. There are many other bad things that we do, but it is fairly comprehensive. And all of us have these things in our hearts to one degree or another. Sometimes we are caught up in them before we even realize it. Sometimes we turn our backs on them easily and move quickly to the "other side" or the good side of what Paul called the Fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, etc....
But God will judge a person's heart. Sometimes we believe that it is our place to judge, our right to point fingers at those who do these things, our right to put others "in their place" so as to lift ourselves up. As if to say, "At least, I'm better than they are. At least I don't go around murdering people. At least I don't gossip. Etc...." But we have all sinned, we all sin, and we will all, at some point, fall short and sin again.
That doesn't give us license to say, oh well, there's nothing I can do about my sin. No! We should try everyday/every moment to be more holy. But we don't have the right to judge others when it comes to the eternal, when it comes to ultimate judgment. We do have the right to pass judgment and therefore consequences on those who break the law, but that is different than what Paul is talking about here.
Opportunities to turn from sin and do good provides us with God's immense grace and a second chance (or 100 chances) to try again, which should also then be extended to others. This is not an easy lesson and should be carefully considered. Standing in judgment of others when we ourselves stand judged should give us pause to be very careful, indeed.
Blessings to you on this day.
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