Judge, Lest You be Judged

Reading 1 Rom 2:1-11

You, O man, are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment.
For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself,
since you, the judge, do the very same things.
We know that the judgment of God on those who do such things is true.
Do you suppose, then, you who judge those who engage in such things
and yet do them yourself,
that you will escape the judgment of God?
Or do you hold his priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience
in low esteem, unaware that the kindness of God
would lead you to repentance?
By your stubbornness and impenitent heart,
you are storing up wrath for yourself
for the day of wrath and revelation
of the just judgment of God,
who will repay everyone according to his works,
eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality
through perseverance in good works,
but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth
and obey wickedness.
Yes, affliction and distress will come upon everyone
who does evil, Jew first and then Greek.
But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone
who does good, Jew first and then Greek.
There is no partiality with God.

This is such a beautiful passage and there are quite a few life lessons in there for all of us to follow and learn from. 

Recent events have brought this front and center for me with one being the visit of Pope Francis and the other being the jailing of the clerk in Kentucky. Both events seem to have drawn lines of distinction among the people, or at least some of them. While millions of people were greeting the Pope and welcoming him to the U.S. with open arms and love, others were greeting him with signs such as, "there is no hope in the Pope." Is it a catchy phrase? Sure it is. Is it their right to wave that banner? Of course it is; as an American they are allowed to voice their opinions. If you delve deeper into it, though, you find out that these people believe that every person that follows the Pope, or the Catholic religion, are going to hell. They have condemned every last one of them. Are they not in trouble for condemning all of those people? Of course they are; read the first three lines of this reading again:

"You, O man, are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment.
For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself,
since you, the judge, do the very same things."

You could say that they are condemning themselves by condemning others. It does say that in the second line. You could say that I'm judging them based on their actions, but no, it is not a judgment. Their beliefs and teachings are fact and not my opinion. On a lighter note, that same blog that mentioned their banners also mentioned how tight security was for Pope Francis. They also noted how security watched them like hawks. Why wouldn't security be tight? They wanted to keep the Pontiff safe from over-enthusiastic people and from the haters and extremists. BTW security thanks you for the signs; it made their jobs so much easier to spot you. Yes, my friends, you were considered a threat to security. That isn't just my opinion either. It is common sense.

The other event, Kim Davis being jailed because of her beliefs, was another head scratcher moment for me. Okay, she is an elected official and, as such, she is supposed to do a job. She is totally and completely allowed to live her life according to her beliefs, as is every other American. If she does not believe in gay marriage, as an Apostolic Christian, she should have stepped aside and let a member of her staff do their job and issue the license. As the County Clerk she is supposed to carry out her duties as such; she was not elected to be the Chief of the Moral Police. But that is purely my opinion based on the politics of the situation. My head scratcher moment came with the onslaught of media coverage, particularly that in social media circles. I saw many posts, some from my own friends, that condemned her for her multiple marriages. Who is she to judge gay people when she has been married 3 times (or however many times it was). The same folks that found her actions to be offensive did not see how they were just as offensive by mocking her. (BTW-nobody elected me to be Chief of the Moral Police either). It did, however, remind me of the Bible passage about how we see the splinter in our brother's eye but neglect to see the wood beam in our own. 

Why don't we all focus on the last lines of this passage - "But there will be glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good....". Worry about your own relationship with Christ the King and stop judging everyone else by their actions and beliefs. Persevere in your own good works for all of our brothers and sisters in the human race, love one another as there is no partiality with God therefore there should not be partiality for each other either.

Peace

Mare