A pastor I knew in seminary, a man I respected and would like to have gotten to know better, once told me his church was struggling between mercy and judgment. That is a tough place to be. There was a time I leaned more toward judgment, but now that I am on the downside of life I see much more clearly my need for mercy, and I see that God expects the same from me for others.
As a young man I often got downright angry with those who ignored the influence of conscience and denied their own ability to blush. I would gladly engage in heated argument anyone who ignored and disrespected morality or the mystery of life and the marvelous order of the universe. Ironically, I lived a lifestyle directly opposed to the ways of God I claimed to believe.
Getting older may slow the mind, but if we allow God to redeem the 'oh so many places where we have fallen short,' then I believe the heart is not only softened, but enlightened. I am coming to better understand what God meant with the command to choose. Choice is a most extravagant and costly gift. Because we are all woven intrinsically together, not only with each other, but with the world we live in, the gift of choice has cost us all dearly. We all profit and lose from the choices each of us make, because we are all of the same fabric.
Be that as it is, we are all free to choose whether we accept or deny God's choice to redeem us from our poor choices. Shouldn't we respect the choice God gave us all? Who am I to be angry with someone who exercises their God given gift of choice, whether or not it is contrary to my will?
To be sure, my choices have affected me, my family, my friends, and in a way I do not understand, my choices have somehow affected you. Just as the choices of everyone else, past and present, somehow impact me. What happened before you and I were born and what happens today affects us all, genetically and spiritually.
Does that give me the right to blame others for my condition? Should I try to thrust my beliefs on them? Haven't we been doing this to each other since the beginning? Isn't that a major reason why a non-believing world loathes religion, especially Christianity?
Did God give me or you a plumb line to measure the sin of others? If so, shouldn't you and I, as Jesus said, take stock of our sin first? God doesn't discriminate. Do we not all breathe the same air? Does the rain fall only on those who choose God? Does God respect the gift he gave us all to choose, whether or not we choose God?
In the line of people I have hurt and within the never ending list of selfish choices I have made is Jesus, my Savior, with forgiveness for repentance. We who call ourselves followers of Christ cling to the hem of his garment with hope for healing and faith in the promise for forgiveness. We take hope in the parable where Jesus forgave the woman caught in the act of adultery, but wait, he said more. He said, "Go and sin no more." I know that I know that, but what is Paul's lament? He says he does what he does not want to do. Being aware of my own fallibility should make me cautious. It means I am fallible, you are fallible, and we are all fallible. Alas, I am not in control and neither are you. Awareness helps, but awareness is not enough.
Jer 10: 23 I know, O Lord, that the way of human beings is not in their control, that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps.
We are told to work our own salvation out with fear and trembling. Since I cannot control myself how do I expect to control others? Why should I even try? Am I taking scripture out of context when I remember Jesus asking Peter why he asked what would happen to John?
We do not keep the great commission through argument, violence or compromise. Are we not supposed to live our lives so the light of Christ shines from within us? How can Christ's light shine if we are not dead to ourselves and alive to Christ? Doesn't that mean all the unforgiveness and judging has to go?
Shouldn't our gratefulness for Christ's forgiveness make it then impossible to judge others? Is the Bible written to everyone or to those who desire relationship with God? Why do we beat people over the head with a book they don't like or believe in?
Be not deceived. Whether we believe in God or not, the consequences of our choices and actions toward God and others will seek and find us all, but the Bible I read, and maybe I read it incorrectly, is directed toward those who call themselves God seekers. If we who claim to love God and God's word love only ourselves, our family, our friends and those who believe the way we do, how are we different from non-believers? Didn't Jesus ask us that?
We are called to make disciples. Discipling and judging are not the same. We can reiterate what the Bible says and call sin sin, but looking down our religious noses at others is judging.
Every Christian who considers doing something violent for Christ needs to read and reread John 8:7. Toward the end of the 26th chapter of Matthew one of Christ's disciples pulled a sword to defend his Lord. Jesus told him to put his sword away. Can it be any clearer?
In the Old Testament as well as the New Testament judgment and revenge belong to the Lord. Whether we are talking about 2 Thessalonians 1:6, Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30, Isaiah 66:6 and many more, it is clear that God will mete out judgment God's way. I have no doubt that judgment is sure. God's justice is every bit as deep as God's mercy and the balance between mercy and justice that my friend and his church struggle to maintain is no struggle for God.
Love and mercy are God's nature, but so is righteous judgment. May I paraphrase Scripture below?
Will the doe forsake its newborn fawn?
Will we pant for air like jackals?
Will God accept us if we do not restrain our hearts from evil?
Let us not be a land where the prophet and priest ply their trade,
but have no knowledge.
Jesus made it clear we are to love our enemies. He also made it clear who is our neighbor. Discipleship is a derivative of love and mercy, not judgment.
Prov. 11:17 "A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself."
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