280 of 365 - Judging

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. Romans 2:1
 
Paul is challenging the Jews – and us – to check our judgment of others.  You see the Jews have carried on the idea from generation to generation that they were God’s chosen people with an underlying assumption that they were morally superior and God would judge them differently than the rest of the world. In turn, they harshly judged non-Jews. Though most of us are not of Jewish origin, as Christians, we too can sometimes assume we have a moral authority to judge others. But Paul is saying this isn’t the case…that God shows no favoritism and all will be judged according to their works. Which in effect means that we are all equally doomed. No matter how “good” we think our lives and works are, they will never meet God’s standard of perfection.

We can agonize over the fact that we will never meet the perfect standards of a holy God and feel hopeless because it is impossible. Or, we can look at is as being the most freeing fact in the world. Because God made a way for us. The pressure is off of us. It is all on Jesus. And He did it for us perfectly.

If we could even almost do it ourselves, we would never fully surrender. We would keep trying and trying…one step forward, two steps back, but never getting anywhere substantial when it comes to our own salvation. Like the addict who keeps trying to save themselves but keeps falling back into the pit. We are all in this pit of a sinful world and sinful lives…just trying and trying to claw our way out; trying to cover it all up with good deeds and religious activity. But only Jesus can pull us out of the pit, clean off all the dirt we accumulated in it, and give us a new life with new hope and new power. Only Jesus. So, who in the world are we to judge?

​Challenge: Ask God to forgive you for the times when you have had a judgmental heart (and mouth). When judgment begins to boil up, ask Him to help you immediately look internally instead, grateful for what HIs blood on the cross did for those things we should be rightfully judged for.