Eastertide
May 4, 2014

Read Scripture: 1 Peter 1:17-23

If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.  

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.— 1 Peter 1:17, 22-23

 How much time and worry do we spend judging ourselves and judging others?

“What are people going to think of me for doing that?”

“Considering what he did, he deserves all the torture that he was put through and probably more.”

“I don’t want people like that in my church.”

Jesus Christ got the job assignment of judging me and you and everybody else. As far as I am concerned, he can have it. When we judge others, it leads to no good thing. That is probably why He drew the assignment because he is the only one who could possibly turn what is unforgiveable into salvation and that’s a good thing.

We, of course, must make judgments every day in every aspect of our lives, but we must make them within the presence of God and the ultimate judgment of Jesus Christ.  Reverent fear is a most apt way to describe being in the service of God. The ability to let go of judgments that are leaving us with “impure” souls and thus limiting us in our capacity to love one another deeply from the heart is counterproductive to our call.

Prayer: God of Grace, enable us to live in reverent fear so that we may have pure souls as we relate to others along the way. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.