Judging the Law or the Facts?

After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. Judges 2:10-13

As I understand it, there are three primary duties of a United States citizen:
  • Somehow serve the country, state, county, and/or city in which you live
  • Vote in elections
  • Serve on a jury
This week, I had the opportunity to serve as a potential jury member. As with any government led activity, it was slow and tedious - and, I was glad to have followed the advice of my wife and brought something to read as I waited. While I was not seated as a juror, I did experience the jury selection process and learned something from the presiding judge regarding the duties of a juror and a judge.

The judge will judge the Law. The jury will judge the Facts.

Interesting.

In the same way, I thought that Christ followers are to look over the evidence and judge the facts. For example, how closely are we following the Law of Christ? Or, are we? How are we living our lives in response to what He has already done for us as Savior and Lord? What will the conversation be, in the end, when we meet Him face to face? Of course, as we "judge the Facts" of our lives (our motivations, thoughts, words, and actions), we recognize that Christ will be the final judge and His judgment is just and pure.

I also thought that what we are not to do, however, is judge the Law. Yet, we do it all the time. While the Bible is relevant for today - even though it is centuries old - we cast it against the common culture and diminish its significance. Gossip is an industry. Envy, jealousy, and coveting have become accepted and encouraged as normal. Parents are disrespected, dishonored. and disregarded. Relationships are redefined between people against the teachings of God.

The judge judges the Law.

What laws of God are we judging instead of simply following?

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” - John 14:21

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Storehouse of Goodness

Image
How great is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. Psalm 31:19 When I think about the LORD and His goodness to me and those around me, I am so thankful. And yet, I'm not sure I've thought often about how He stores up goodness for me.  Have you? If we fear Him alone (and that's a BIG IF), then we can be assured of this promise: that He will store up goodness for us! The doctor gives bad news. God has goodness stored up for us. A spouse asks for a divorce. God has goodness stored up for us. Children make decisions that grieve us. God has goodness stored up for us. Fellow students or colleagues at our place of employment treat us with contempt or worse. God has goodness stored up for us. Dreams and goals we thought were important are no longer possible. God has goodness stored up for us. No matter what we encounter along the Way - whether calm or storm, peace o
Read more

Lessons of Trust

As promised, here are a few of the lessons learned after the challenges wrought in the experience on Thursday night's Living Last Supper: When we do something intentionally to God's glory, He receives the glory and protects us. Continue to put trust in God alone. As we trust God, if an outside organization desires access to the church, one must perform due diligence to verify who they are and what they intend to do. If there is no time to perform due diligence, then the offer remains unaccepted. The farther away an interviewer/videographer lives, the more due diligence is required. Interviewers or videographers rarely (if ever) pay you to do their work. If sufficient due diligence is performed, review ALL waivers before signing or making them available for signatures. If after due diligence, a group is allowed on site, increase security to ensure the group behaves as promised. And, the oldest lesson of all: people may not do what you expect them to do, but they will do what you
Read more

Who is your king?

  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”    Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”    Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:36-38a In a culture that stresses having the “right” identity, you and I have many.    For example, I am a son of my parents, husband to my wife, father to my children, grandfather to their children, a neighbor, a friend, a pastor.    You get the idea.    All of these relationships mark us – identify us.    While we might like to consider all of these identities equally, there is a hierarchy whereby one identity overshadows or has priority over another.    As we raised our children, my k
Read more