Month: October 2024

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Not up to the Job

Through International Friendships (IFI), Peggy and I have hosted many international students in our home upon their arrival to the U.S. If our guests stay over a weekend, we invite them to church, where I’ve seen them occasionally navigate their cell phones during the service. I must confess being miffed in the past at such apparent disrespect. Can’t they “unplug” for one hour? What took me a regrettably long time to realize, however, was that they were using translator apps to look up theological terms completely new to them. They were not being disrespectful at all; on the contrary, they were trying to engage! If anyone sat in need of judgment, it was this erroneous judge.

I’m not alone in this regard; there is plenty of company. For instance, as Hannah weepingly implored God in her heart to grant her a son, “her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli [the priest] thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.’”1 He had judged the woman from appearances without knowing her heart; he had made himself understood before seeking to understand. “‘Not so, my lord,’ Hannah replied, ‘I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.’”2 (What a great response!) Not only are we capable of false judgment, we are prone to it.

The prophet Jeremiah once pondered, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”3 Yes, who are we to judge the heart of another when we cannot fully understand our own? At the very least, we should recognize what we do not know —the heart of others, their appeal to God for His grace, and His plan for their life. Why should we shackle others with heavy chains of judgment when God would liberate them with words and acts of mercy?

Upon Hannah’s self-defense, a corrected Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”4 Then perhaps this is our take-away — to be God’s vessels of blessing to others, and leave the judging to Him who alone is up to the job.

“First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”5 — Jesus, to us.

Father, You — and only You — are right in judgment. Give us a distaste for judging others, and incline our hearts toward them in care, compassion, mercy, and grace. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 1 Samuel 1:13-14 NIV
2 1 Samuel 1:15-16 NIV
3 Jeremiah 17:9 NIV
4 1 Samuel 1:17 NIV
5 Matthew 7:5 NIV

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Oh, for Goodness Sakes

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for [Jesus’] name’s sake. — 1 John 2:12 ESV

Can there possibly be better news than “your sins are forgiven”? If so, it eludes me. A slate forever wiped clean brings great gladness, as Israel’s King David penned to lyrics, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt. . .”1 What great relief! Yet in complete candor, I confess difficulty in understanding or even appreciating the “for Jesus’ sake” part of my forgiveness. Shouldn’t my forgiveness be for my sake? (I speak from a fleshy perspective.) And if my forgiveness is for Jesus’ sake, am I reduced to mere collateral in the scheme of things?

Au contraire! Consider some of the things the I AM does for His own sake. For His sake, He leads us in paths of righteousness,2 pardons our guilt,3 blots out our transgressions,4 defers his anger,5 and forgives our sins.6 In acting for His own sake, God pours Himself into us in many ways; He is love at work. Then if God’s action on our behalf works for His sake — His purposes — what must we conclude but that our worth to Him shines brilliantly in the heavenlies?

But why does God do things for His own sake in the first place? “Everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory,”7 writes the apostle Paul, and through Isaiah, God himself declares, “I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me.”8 He is generosity amid our greed, justice amid our injustice, forgiveness amid our revenge, grace amid our retaliation, contentment amid our envy, resolution amid our conflict, fidelity amid our unfaithfulness, perfection amid our ruin, and life beyond our death. God is everything we desire when we lament what is. He alone is is worthy for all things to be for His sake and for the sake of His Son, and it is fitting, even necessary, that it be so.

Then thank God for not allowing Himself to be anything less than He is, but acting instead for His own sake. And rejoice that He has made us His own, for in Him we live for goodness sake.

“Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”9 For the sake of Christ we are forgiven, and in His name we pray. Amen.

1 Psalm 32:1-2 NLT
2 Psalm 23:3
3 Psalm 25:11
4 Isaiah 43:25
5 Isaiah 48:9
6 1 John 2:12
7 Romans 11:36 NLT
8 Isaiah 46:8-9 ESV
9 Psalm 115:1 NIV

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Judgment, Mercy, and a Skilled Physician

“The doctor said I’m cancer-free!” I can only imagine the relief, joy, and new lease on life shared by new survivors. Being cleared of life-threatening disease — even if through harsh treatment — must be one of the most euphoric feelings in all humanity. Yet if bodily healing buys us additional finite time, be it 10 years or 40, how much more glorious must be our purification from the eternal-life-threatening presence of sin, for any amount of it, even one “cell,” is spiritually lethal. James writes, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it,”1 and Isaiah tells us our sins separate us from God,2 in whom life exists.

The prophet Habakkuk once proclaimed, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.”3 Indeed, our God is holy and He will not allow His purity — purity’s only source — to be compromised, as we have. Then we have a problem, a soul sickness to be cured and a closeness to be restored. We need a physician who can “get it all,” we need our sin to be removed and ourselves declared “sin-free.” So like an oncologist, God detects our sin, declares it, and condemns it; He goes after it with a vengeance — zero tolerance. For God will not taint His purity by ignoring ours, nor does He will to abandon us to our sin condition. Sin must be judged: it must be named for what it is, and then eradicated.

Then judgment is a kindness, for God would kill the disease of sin while saving the patient. And so it is that God judges with mercy; He is harsh on our sin, yet merciful to us. For though we were dead in our trespasses — judged and found condemned — God removed them from us through the sacrificial death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul writes, “God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”4 And again, “Our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus . . . gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds.”5 He killed the cancer and saved the patient.

Judgment speaks truth, then sends us to mercy. It confronts us with reality of sin— no compromise, zero tolerance — then points us to healing and life. In judgment, God displays His purity, and in mercy He declares our own.

Thank You, God, for your judgment and Your mercy. Both proclaim Your purity and speak Your love. Send us with confidence to proclaim You with joy. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 James 2:10 ESV
2 Isaiah 59:2
3 Habakkuk 1:13 NIV
4 Romans 8:1-4 NLT
5 Titus 2:13-14 NASB