Angela, Sorry it has taken me awhile to get to this. I am feeling a little overburdened with my job, school, and my family. I am getting my CDA right now and this requires 3 chapters of reading a week, 6 online discussion forums, 1 lesson plan complete with 5 handmade props all done in a powerpoint presentation. For work I am required to do one lesson planning sheet a week plus a lesson plan and these need to be done on specific days in order for the administration to micro manage my lesson plans. Whew it is tough and I find myself working at home for free way to much which makes me feel resentful with my employer. I am trying to simplify this as much as possible but it tends to overwhelm me because I come home and there is the home drama and I want so much to be "present" here but feel like I can't because I have deadlines at school and work or a pile of things I need cut for next week. I realize though that I NEED to do this everyday, without time with God everything feel like an uphill battle. Thank you for keeping me accountable and for constantly lifting me up in prayer.
Dear God, Please open up my heart and mind to hear your word today. Thank you for allowing me time to sit and spend with you. Let your words be a lamp unto my feet today. Amen
2:1 "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other ,you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things."
I agree with you that this is a tough verse. We want so much to be perfect like Jesus and in that quest to perfection we see others and their sin and somehow think we are better than them. In our quest for perfection we lack humility! The quest should be for love, for relationship, leave the perfection to Jesus! I loved what you said, "That no one is better than anyone else." God the Father looks down on us and sees his children, he doesn't see one and say, "This is the one I love the most, she is better than all the others." I can't imagine a Father saying that about a child of his own. Doug Glein said something a long time ago and it really stuck with me, when God looks at us he sees Jesus. We are clothed in Jesus, wiped clean from Jesus, covered in Jesus. I love the mental image of that, God the Father looking down at me and seeing Jesus his perfect, holy, sinless, Son. It really frees us to live for God, to pursue God for the sake of his relationship. That we do not have to strive for perfection, or seek out guilt in others because we are all little Jesus trying our best to be like our big brother Jesus.
2:2 "Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth."
Our judgment of others is sometimes based on our own feelings and human-ness. We see others doing things we think are not OK and we want to change their ways because we love them, because we fear judgment. God judges based on truth, after all "he is the way, the truth, and the life." I tell my own children, Let God do God stuff! You worry about yourself, your heart, your actions. I surround myself with grace and love believing that God is a good God, that yes I make mistakes and sin and own up to them and that what ever judgment that might come way is a righteous and based on love not on fear.
2:3 "So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?"
We are all capable of sin, we all do and are guilty of lusting, coveting, pride, insincerity and more. Who are we to cast the first stone? I think God wants us to call our brothers and sister out when we see them in a sin but for the purpose of loving them and showing them grace. Jesus gave us those examples over and over in bible, the woman and the well, the women who touched the robe, the tax collector, Mary Magdalene, he welcomes them into his family with love and grace and forgives them. He does not judge them and condemn them, he shows them love that comes straight from the father. I think God with judge the judging person accordingly, you are either living by the law or you are living by grace.
2:4 "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?"
God who showed you grace, love, kindness, mercy and patience did so to led you to repent of your sin and live in love. If you toss it away and judge others, toss away the mercy and patience, he will judge you accordingly because through your actions you have said that you do not need those gifts. Sad to think of and yet these verses are some of the toughest in the bible. We all strive for righteousness, holiness and somehow through our human-ness it comes off as pride, judgmental and it puts others off. I see this a lot in the way the church is portrayed in the media, we come off as judgmental jerks who just want everyone to listen to us. That is so far from what our main purpose here on earth is and yet that is what is being heard throughout the world and I think it is because the "Christians" on television are feeding into this by casting judgment on others. We are called to be a light, a beacon to others not to point out sin in others, that is a God job done through relationship and growth. The world should see us loving others, taking care of those who need care; the widows, orphans, the home less, the refuge, the hungry. If we want to end abortion then we should make it such a non choice for young women, provide health care, provide waiting families, provide education to all involved. Maybe if as a whole we focused on being the light and less about politics, sexual identity and sin we would be the beacon that God wants us to be.
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