Living in the Spirit
May 25, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 96

Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is king!
   The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
   He will judge the peoples with equity.’
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
   let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
   let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord; for he is coming,
   for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with his truth. –Psalm 96:10-13

It has been a source of great perplexity, why we, who call ourselves Christian, devote so much time and energy to debated Biblical minutia while ignoring the preponderant issues it includes. It is particularly vexing regarding some type of judgement we may be facing. Our scripture today says we will be judged with righteousness. Another word for that is justice. This seems to have a double meaning. The judge will be just and the criteria for making a judgement is based on how we measure up to God’s righteousness.

I must say I do not think some Christians put much stock in judgement. They relegate it to bygone beliefs. Others seem to think judgement is measured by how well we follow what they perceive to be God’s laws, although most seem to pick and choose among the 613 that are expressed in the Hebrew Bible. There is a third group that seem to think their goal is to be more righteous than others. We are after all a competitive society.

I will confess I have no idea how judgement actually occurs and I find it prudent to consider it a journey with the Holy Spirit throughout our lives. It involves making righteous decision on the fly in every day ways as well as taking the time on a regular basis to examine ourselves in the presence of the Holy Spirit to weigh and correct our own commission and omissions in life that separate us from God.

Prayer:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. * Amen

*Taken from the Lorica of Saint Patrick see at https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/patrick.htm

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.