Sunday, July 21, 2019

Righteous Judgment

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2)
We have this tendency to want to see others get what they deserve. We can list all kinds of reasons they should.  We love to compare and point the finger in order to make ourselves feel less worthy of judgment.  But God is righteous, and will base any judgment on His character as such.  When it comes to ourselves, we like to "presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience," but do not find ourselves led to the point of repentance. God's loving attributes are not intended to make us feel good about ourselves, and yet able to judge others.  They are intented to bring us to repentance and faith. May we have softened and confessing hearts before Him today. 

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