Day 131: Judging, Circumcision, and Baggage

Romans 2:1-3:8; 1 Samuel 10:17-11:15; Psalm 56

"When you judge others, you condemn yourselves, because you are guilty of doing the very same things." Ouch.  I know I'm guilty of judging others, either by their appearance, attitude, lifestyle choices, etc.  As Christians, we often feel like we have the "answer" and we got it "right" and therefore we have this unspoken power to judge those who haven't been accepted into the family. We are reminded here that we are guilty of the same things as those we judge.

In these verses it also talks about those who do good patiently and those who reject the truth and do evil.  It says that "He will give" and "he will show how angry," but doesn't say anything about "you can earn" or "you should show how angry you are." It is not for us to earn, and not for us to judge.  Leave that up to God.  We just need to live doing good and patiently waiting on The Lord.  He will give and he will judge according to his wisdom.

The verses that talk about the conscience cleared some things up for me.  I knew some people who were volunteering, trying to make the world a better place, but were self-proclaimed non-believers (I forget now what they said exactly, but I knew they were not Christians). I wondered, how could these people be doing good without it coming from The Lord?  This verse says that some people naturally obey the Law's commands even though they don't have any connection with it.  This is proof that a person's conscience is God's voice or spirit in our hearts and why sometimes we feel like God is speaking or calling us to do right or warning us not to do wrong.  That little Jiminy Cricket is really a presence sent by God and placed in the hearts and minds of all people.  It is prompting people to live right, do right, and turn to God.  Some will accept and others will not.  So that is why someone who doesn't want anything to do with God can still do good--because there is more influence from The Lord in their lives than they realize or want to admit.

Ok, so the circumcision. (Haha, awkward.  Welcome to my blog!)  Obviously, the physical procedure doesn't apply to half of us, but the principle behind it applies to all of us.  This was a sign of someone who was in God's family, and yet they would still live stupidly and selfishly.  Paul tells us that your physical demonstrations, your name being in the church membership book, your Jesus t-shirt really don't say that you are a follower of The Lord.  Anyone can get their name in the church bulletin, go to a conference or mission trip, or wear WWJD paraphenalia.  What really matters is those that actually obey God's call in their lives.  We need to make sure we aren't just doing stuff, but that we are actually obeying and following The Lord.  It is "something that happens deep in your heart, not something done to your body."

"God tells the truth, even if everyone else is a liar." People get hurt by churches.  People get hurt by pastors.  People get hurt by Christians.  But, people need to realize that those hurts do not come from God.  The people of God may lie, cheat, gossip, but The Lord does not.  His goal is to lift up, to grow, to heal.  So if you've been wronged by a church or a Christian, realize that is not from God.

So where is Saul?  He's "hiding behind the baggage." Saul had been appointed by God, he had experienced some interesting intervention by The Lord, and had been promised an important position.  But instead of being strengthened by God, he is fearful and hiding, where?  Behind the baggage.  We could say that he was hiding behind the past, the stuff he held on to, his junk.  He was allowing the burdens of his life to come between him and God's calling for his life.  We do that!  God tells us to be a leader, a servant, a giver, and we hide behind our past failures and hurts, our fears and uncertainties.  But, God made them drag Saul out into the light, and they encouraged him.  Even Saul, their mighty king, needed some prodding.  May you and I not hide behind our baggage, but to step out in faith, trusting in God's promises.

Saul, through The Lord, proved himself.  The Israelites wanted to destory those that had doubted him.  That idea was quicktly squashed by Saul:  there was victory and The Lord had helped them survive.  Putting people to death would defeat the purpose and distract the course.  Good job Saul!