Ezekiel 18:1-19:14; Hebrews 9:1-10; Psalm 106:32-48; Proverbs 27:10
“‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live. The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done. Do you think that I like to see wicked people die?’ says the Sovereign Lord. ‘Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins. Yet you say, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one not doing what’s right, or is it you? …Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions,’ says the Sovereign Lord. ‘Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you! Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!’”
“Again and again he rescued them, but they chose to rebel against him, and they were finally destroyed by their sin. Even so, he pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries. He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love.”
“Never abandon a friend—either yours or your father’s. When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance. It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.”
Good news and bad news today. The good news is that God truly does not desire that any of His children die. He wants us to live, now and eternally. The bad news is that He also holds us personally responsible and accountable to Him for our own lives, whatever our circumstances. We make our own beds to lie in, so to speak, and our parents, friends and others will not be blamed for the results. We are each responsible for our own choices, so we had better start doing a better job of choosing our own paths and do less finger pointing along the way.
Personal accountability actually is a very good thing when viewed the right way. It’s tough enough to attend to our own ways; being responsible for those who have gone before, or those who come after, is a burden only One Man carried successfully. But this brings to mind a new, logical question: if the Lord judges us only on the basis of our own acts, why then are we still so concerned with the affairs of others? Why do we focus so intently on the specks in our brothers’ and sisters’ eyes and virtually ignore our own faults? We resist the idea that we should be held guilty for the sins of others and yet are all too quick to castigate friends and enemies alike for even the most inconsequential errors. That kind of focus is a complete misdirection, and it fools no one.
It is far easier to judge others than to judge ourselves. It can be cathartic, in fact. That does not, however, make our judgments right. We frequently “punish” those who share our own weaknesses. We work to see their failings as somehow worse than ours, thus hoping to justify our tendency to overlook our own sins. How inconsistent that is! How inconsistent we are! If our heavenly Father wants ALL His children to live, who are we to wish them worse? We need to build others up, not tear them down.
I do not like the fact that I wish ill on others, but that is exactly what I do whenever I judge someone else. More to the point, I bring God’s righteous wrath upon myself in the process. I need to see my personal judgments for what they truly are: self-administered poison.
Being heavily involved in the church for years, I’ve been around any number of supercilious “religious” folks. These are the ones who pretend to be spiritual leaders and yet do all they can to undercut and disparage anyone who does not agree with them. They gossip, devastatingly, as they cloak their pettiness and jealousies in the name of Christ. Their theology is framed to promote and protect their own positions and opinions. They wear their so-called “spirituality” like a merit badge. I have less than no use for them. Like oil meeting vinegar, we just don’t mix well. Such saccharine personalities alienate others only slightly less than does their presumed spiritual superiority….
See how easy and dangerous judgment is? Before I realize it, my “righteous” indignation and frustration can turn me into one of “them,” and I disgust myself. I could not blame the Lord for being just as disgusted with me. Life is just a whole lot easier and better when we tend solely to our own business.
If, as Scripture declares, it truly is Christ’s desire to bring all people to life in Him, then we do His plans a grave disservice any time we place ourselves above anyone else. Of course, that is precisely what judgment does and why it is so dangerous. It brings others down, sure. But it also artificially elevates those who do judge until they lose perspective on their own lives. If judgment continues long enough, we may even come to believe we can live above the law, and that the rules don’t apply to us. Fortunately, the Spirit makes it rain on the just and the unjust. The yardstick we use to measure others is exactly the same as the one applied, metaphorically speaking, to our own hind ends any time we presume to dole out judgment.
The Great Amen is not the least bit interested in how we judge others. He is only concerned that we not do it at all. Judgment is His job. Only He has all the facts. Only He is capable of operating from a completely holy perspective, using a completely untarnished agenda. Any time we pretend to voice or carry out His judgments, we do nothing more than attempt to usurp His authority for ourselves. We cannot handle that much responsibility. The sooner we realize that, the better off we’ll be. The pot has no need to call the kettle black. Our personal traits are all quite obvious to the One who created us in the first place, and only His opinions about them will matter at the end of the day.
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