Tag Archives: Judgment

Judgment

Living in the Spirit

June 10, 2021

Scripture Reading:

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. –2 Corinthians 5:6-10

The theology of judgment has always been a paradox to me, a self-contradictory statement that is true. The word “recompense” used here describing what happens at judgment illustrates that well.  Recompense means either to give compensation to, to give an equivalent for, or to return in kind–reciprocate by or as if by rewarding or avenging*

My book club just read The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon. The story is about two girls searching for God among a neighborhood of families who get some things right and some things wrong routinely. The confusion for the girls in separating the goats from the sheep is the paradox of judgment. Finding God in such an environment is made more straightforward or more complicated by seeing the image of Jesus in a utility pipe. We learn with the girls that God is always with us, made even more so in the presence of Jesus among us.

God’s desire for us is to choose righteousness and justice, both hard words to define and categorize as their meaning gets caught up in the interpretations of the world. However, as we grow in Spirit and truth, increasing our connectedness to God, we perceive a purer knowledge and hopefully apply that understanding in how we live our lives. We can do that every day by examining our lives against God’s righteousness and justice, making corrective adjustments along the way.

My desired image of final judgment is sitting down with Jesus over a good cup of coffee in laughter and tears with thanksgiving for the forgiveness of the knuckleheaded things I did that required course corrections, thanksgiving for the consistency of the Spirit’s presence to get me through the hard times, and the joy I shared with all God’s children when we truly practiced God’s righteousness and did justice by loving God and loving one another. Let it be so.

Prayer:
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise. Amen.

*https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/recompense

**First verse of Dear Lord and Father of Mankind  by John Greenleaf Whittier see at https://hymnary.org/text/dear_lord_and_father_of_mankind

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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Judgment

Advent

December 22, 2020

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

We Christ-followers see Jesus in scriptures like the one above. To the Psalmist, It describes one who is coming who will judge our actions with righteousness. The Psalmist wrote about the long-expected savior foretold by prophets. Some Christians shortcut Jesus’ judgment to a simple separation of who is going to eternal damnation and who will spend eternity with God. That seems a little too cut and dry for me. In the first place, we have all sinned, missed the mark, so without God’s amazing grace, all of us would come up short on righteousness.

As described in the quote above, I tend to interrupt judgment about how we live our lives from day-to-day. Like a supervisory assessment, Jesus assesses how we are doing our job of being a part of the Body of Christ in the world today. Much of the supervision is done in real-time consultation. Here is a situation: how do we approach it in the best way to enhance the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on earth. It requires praying without ceasing and routinely evaluating what we did in righteousness and where we missed the mark. When we miss the mark, we need to seek forgiveness from God and others we may have harmed in the process. We also need to change our behavior and work diligently, never to make the same mistake again.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your patience with us as you help us get loving like you, right. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Judge Not

Living in the Spirit

October 22, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 1

Happy are those
   who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
   or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
   and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
   planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
   and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

The wicked are not so,
   but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,
   nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
   but the way of the wicked will perish.

We have lost our plumbline on discerning what is wicked and what is not. I guess I should stop reading social media. My heart breaks each time I read a post that says someone has left their church because another member, or even the pastor, has told them they would go to hell because of the candidate they are supporting. Many people no longer identify as Christian because it is associate with behavior that they do not think reflects the ways of Jesus. Jesus is very clear on this point,

‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? –Matthew 7:1-3

Rudyard Kipling perhaps says it best, when he wrote If for boys. It applies to girls and all adults, too. Here is the first verse, with the last phrase:

If you can keep your head when all about you   
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,  
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;  
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
… you’ll be a Man, my son!

Prayer: God, forgive us, for we know not what we do when through our actions, we turn others away from you.  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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Judgment

Kingdom Building

November 13, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 98

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
   the world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands;
   let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
   to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with equity. –Psalm 98:7-9

I do not know if most followers of Christ think of judgment as being out of sight out of mind or think of it as an archaic understanding of scripture or do not think of it at all. Certainly, we have moved beyond the hell fire and brimstone of former years at least in some churches. The Hebrew word translated judge above speaks to a final judgment when we each stand before God facing a review of our lives.

I personally think that we need to do such reckoning as we go. I supervised a lot of people in my career and always tried to have a final review when an employee retired or quit for whatever reason. These were often emotional meetings with some tears and some laughter as we remembered the successes and failures and fellowship that come with any job. There rarely were surprises in such interviews because we had faced the bad times and the good times together.

My goal is to have that kind of interview with God someday because I try to keep in touch with God everyday through self-evaluation and prayers for guidance, trying to reconcile the wrong turns I have made as I strive toward the goal Paul talks about here in Philippians:

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:10-14)

Prayer: Walk with us Lord as we strive toward meeting the goals you have set before us. Help us see the better ways we may be missing. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Time and Judgment

Eastertide

May 12, 2019

Scripture Reading: John 10:22-30
At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.’

Eternal life operates simultaneously outside of time, inside of time, and beyond time – i.e. what gives time its everlasting meaning for the believer through faith yet is also time-independent*.

John is saying that Jesus’ power is the very power of God. God shares with Jesus God’s eschatological [end of the world] power over life, death, and judgment **.

I do not know which is more challenging for humans to grasp that God along with Jesus controls time or judgment. Humans seem to have a definite need to control both and often do neither well. I am a procrastinator unless I am not. It is amazing how long I can justify putting off something I do not want to do and how quickly I do the things I choose, sometimes recklessly. I have read many help books that describes ways to make the best use of time but how to use time in not my problem.  The artificial hierarchy of time-use need I carry around in my brain rules my behavior for good or bad. My inherited and personal values create that hierarchy. We rarely take our deep-seated values out and compare them to values defined by God. Now to do so would be a most meaningful use of time.

Judgment is an even thornier issue. The measuring instruments in our brains by which we judge other people have been years in the making beginning at our births. They build up like the grime in our plumbing making us think we know a lot about someone even before we meet them. Such prejudgments can be harmful to our relationships with others as we seek to become one in Christ. When we start to believe that our judgment about others takes the place of God’s ultimate judgment, we enter the dangerous territory of blasphemy, playing God.

Prayer:
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise***. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/166.htm
**The New Interpreter’s Bible: A commentary in Twelve Volumes Volume IX Abingdon Press page 677.
***First verse of Dear Lord and Father of Mankind by John Greenleaf Whittier. See at https://hymnary.org/text/dear_lord_and_father_of_mankind

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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Correcting our Ways

Living in the Spirit
October 11, 2018

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 4:12-16

Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. –Hebrew 4:12-13

Many, at least in the USA, are living in a steady state of denial. The stock market is rising, and unemployment is low, so all musts be well, right? But all is not well. Our national debt is growing. I heard on the news this morning that scientist estimate that climate change will be unredeemable (my word not theirs) in ten years if we do not start immediately to curtail its development. While unemployment may be low, more and more people are not earning a living wage. The middle class is shrinking as are its values of fairness, hard work, and self-actualization. I grow weary of the daily reports of children and youth shooting each other or assaulting one another. The attitude that all is fair if one can get away with it is prevalent. How many young frat boys are going to drink themselves to death before that attitude loses its allure? Bullying is almost normal behavior any more.

Of course, it is not just children and youth caught in this cycle. They have some excellent role models for inappropriate behavior among adults caught in road rage or our leaders setting terrible examples. I thought about contacting my local TV station and asking them not to broadcast such inappropriate behavior until the 10:00 pm news so children would be less likely to be influenced by it.

God is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart and does. God is holding each of us responsible for our actions particularly those that denigrate others and particularly those that set bad examples for children.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we fail to love one another as you would have us do. Prick our consciences with that double-edged sword each time we step away from your righteousness until we correct our ways. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Journeying With

Living in the Spirit
September 28, 2018

Scripture Reading: James 5:13-20

My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. –James 5:19-20

I am a fan of Father Brown the TV show on PBS. While a good murder mystery is entertaining, I am more impressed with his interactions with his fellow human beings. He accepts everyone where they are, just as they are and journeys with them as they strive to reach their full potential. He does hold people’s feet to the fire; they need to face the facts of what they are doing or have done whether it is related to the case at hand or not. He is quick to assure them that God is forgiving if they confess and repent although they still may face the consequences of their actions. In that case, he will be there with them fulfilling the charge to visit those in prison. It is rare but on occasion, he runs into what I would call pure evil and he mourns souls caught in evil’s tangles unwilling to ask God to extract them from its clenches.

The problem in following the guidance of the above scripture is that it places us in the predicament of assuming that truth as we perceive it is The Truth applicable to everyone. It takes only a few minutes in an ecumenical setting to discern that committed Christ followers differ on what The Truth is. Jesus solves this issue by prescribing how we are to act rather than creating rules for us to follow. We are to love, clean and simple and that means we journey with each other allowing the power of love to offer course correction if needed through our abiding presence and representations of God’s love.

Prayer: Lord, cleanse us of all judgment so we can be the conduit of your love others who feel estranged from you. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Day of Judgment

Eastertide
April 27, 2018

Scripture Reading: 1 John 4:7-21

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. –1 John 4:16b-21

I do not think many are concerned about the day of judgment. Several pay attention to the end of times and the second coming, which are linked to the day of judgment. I fear some believe judgment is for others just as the sins we recognize are often something others do. The Bible talks about the day of judgment.

Accountability is with us each step of our daily walk with God. I tend to see judgment as being held accountable as we examine our activities each day so that we can make course corrections through our faith journey.  For example, did I see someone hungry and not feed them? Having to face, all at once, a lifetime of missing the mark, breaking God’s laws, or being separated from God is something to dread. Our goal is to get to the final judgment and hear only Well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21)

To reach that goal requires dedication to loving like God loves. In the end that is the only thing that matters.

Prayer: Teach me to love like you in everything I say and do. Help me to understand what love really is and what it means to me and those with whom I share love. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

The Covenant Way

Living in the Spirit
July 26, 2017

Scripture Reading: Psalm 105:1-11, 45b

He is the Lord our God;
   his judgments are in all the earth.
He is mindful of his covenant for ever,
   of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
the covenant that he made with Abraham,
   his sworn promise to Isaac,
which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
   to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan
   as your portion for an inheritance.’ 

that they might keep his statutes
   and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord! Psalm 105:7-11, 45b

In all the soap opera that was the house of Abraham, God kept God’s part of the covenant relationship while Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stumbled along the journey sometimes on the right path sometimes not. We do the same today. Our Psalmist attests to the two-way relationship of covenant and indicates that God even goes further sustaining our ability to keep our covenant commitment to God.

What is it about humans that we seemed hell-bent on seeking our worth through means outside of God’s purview? Our pridefulness, lust for power, and greed are anathema to God’s ways. Yet, we chase after them with every fiber of our being. What would the world be like if we put that much energy in humbly fulfilling the work of justice and mercy that Christ sent us forth to do following his resurrection?

We worry about how others judge us when the only judge we have that matters is God whose forgiveness and eternal love always accompanies God’s judgment. Yes, I know only too well how much we do not want to look bad in front of others. Some of us are most likely our worst judges. We expect far more of ourselves than anyone else does.

I fear we project onto God experiences of trust involving humans that may not have gone well. We need to let those bad experiences go and lean ever more faithfully on God’s everlasting arms to carry us through similar future encounters not let them frame our lives with bitterness.

Prayer: Forgive me, O God, when I turn from following your guidance. Attune me to your Spirit  so I can follow you more nearly. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Using Our Judgment

Lent
March 26, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 9:1-41

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’ –John 9:13-17

How do we judge others? We do it all the time. Whether we like to admit it or not, we have little categories nicely arranged in our brains in which we can quickly slot situations or people. Most of us were probably taught not to be judgmental in the negative sense of the word characterized by a tendency to judge people harshly*.  Using our judgment is essential in all aspects of life. For example, we make a judgment call when we try to discern how to help someone.

Our scripture today illustrates judgment based on strict rules regarding working on the Sabbath. If one did not observe the Sabbath in the way taught by the religious leaders of the day, one was not from God. Strict rules, I guess, make decision making easier but are opened to interpretation. It is always interesting to me how rules apply to some but not to all. Jesus came to show a different way, a new way, and a very old way, a way that promoted wanting the very best for others as we want for ourselves. I do not know which is harder.

Who would not want a person born blind to gain the gift of sight whether it was the Sabbath or not? Apparently, those who base their personal worth on their ability to obey laws. Their self-image results from what others think of them. It does not result from their being a child of God. Perhaps we just do not want to accept that all humans are children of God, made in God’s image. We denigrate ourselves when we denigrate any other, and we denigrate our Creator.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see your image in the other as well as in our mirror. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/judgmental

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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.