May 23 - Judgment, Gossip, Punishment. Too much?

May 23 – Judgment, Gossip, Punishment.  Too much?

Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.” (John 12:44-50)

There are a few ‘favorite’ writers that capture my attention each day when I read their blogs.  This morning two of them spoke to my heart … but the funny thing is, God spoke first while I was in the shower and when I came out, His words were reinforced by theirs.

We’re (I’m) pretty good at judging people.  I have a good idea of the difference between right and wrong and I can make sure that differentiation is obvious to everyone else around me.

That’s called gossip, by the way.

When someone fails miserably in life, I judge them.  It’s a pretty common response.  When someone succeeds, I can quickly choose to judge everything else about them so that I bring them back down to a level that makes sense.

I suspect that God would actually prefer we not do things like that to the people around us. And honestly, it is so unhealthy in so many ways.  When we gossip and sit in righteous judgment regarding other people’s failures, what we are telling those around us who listen to our words is that in a heartbeat we could be judging them.  We are no longer a safe person because are interests are obviously not in their best interest.  I can tell you that there are a number of people in my life in whom I no longer trust because of their incessant need to belittle and judge others – thinking that they’ll impress me with their self-righteous view of the world.

There are people that I don’t trust to have my back because I know that as soon as it is turned, they’ll tell others about my failure.  They would rather impress everyone around them with all of their knowledge regarding any situation than just holding information between them and God.

Pete Wilson talked this morning about his need to ‘fix’ people and within that need comes judgment.   He had to figure out that he wasn’t God and fixing those around him wasn’t his purpose in life – it’s what God does.

John Fischer wrote about the complete opposite of what we expect from God, which is guilt and punishment and that God takes delight in us because of the work Jesus did on the cross. 

So … judgment – guilt – punishment.  These are things that we don’t have to take on ourselves or place on others.  The One who is responsible for that is God and He delights in us. 

How does that change your day?