Thought of the Day !!

Andy Stoddard, a friend of mine who is a United Methodist Pastor in Petal, MS, shared this devotional this morning.  After reading it, I thought it was the perfect "Thought of the Day !!" for today.  May you be blessed by it.

In the love of Christ,
greg



I really want the Lord to judge “them” for their sin.

Whoever “they” are, and whatever “they” are doing, I want Him to get them. After all, they deserve judgment. I mean, look at what they are doing! God, go get ’em!

Now, for me and I my sins, I want grace. I want forgiveness. I want God’s mercy for the mistakes that I make every day.

For “them” and their sins, I want the holiness of God to come and smite them for the mistakes that they make. For me and my sins, I want the grace of God to smooth over the rough edges of my life and remind me that I’m His beloved child, no matter what.

So, to recap, I want judgment for them, and grace for me.

All of us as Christians are tempted to live that way. To think that we are the righteous and they are the sinners. We as Christians are sometimes (most times) tempted to live a life of judgment.

Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 14:10-12:

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Paul says who are you to pass judgment on another? And in our society, we like that verse because it lets us off the hook. We can say, “Don’t judge me!”

But Paul is really saying this: we are not to judge each other, because ultimately, we will all stand before a truly righteous judge one day. One day, we will all give account to God for our lives and what we do.

This passage isn’t a “get out of jail free card” but a reality check card. We don’t judge because we are not worthy of being a judge. Only God is.

Because of that, I want to live that graceful life that is given mercy for my sin, as well as your sin. Only God can judge.

None of us are good enough to judge.

But, God is.

And how does He respond to our sin? Grace.

May we respond the same way to others and their sin.

And may we all seek to live our God’s grace and life in our lives.