The Unchanging Law of Judgment

There is an old saying that says something like, "If your heart is broken, you know it still works. " The difficulty then becomes right and Godly acceptance and forgiveness for others as we would have them forgive us. Still working on that one. The best I can do is abide. Other moments, when I am fretful and anxious about relationship and household matters, I fall off the cliff into the abyss of being critical of those who I perceive have harmed or wronged me. During times of stress and discontentment, I must pull back from the tempting emotional buffet my carnal self and ego desires to indulge in and shift my focus back to God. Giving power/thought energy to followed by self indulgent nursing of whatever it is I am perceiving has caused pain fuels anger and strife. I know this. I have learned and practice letting these experiences flow through with detachment and when I am unsuccessful, seeking solace in the word of God. It is the first steps of a maturing faith. More perplexing, are the acts necessary to restore relationships that were damaged in my ignorance and to bring my existing relationships out of dysfunction and into healthy and satisfying ones for all parties. I find myself keeping those who love me at arms length and am not at all inclined to open my heart and trust others in this world, preferring safety, sanctuary and solitude. It is a very quiet, safe but unholy place. Though I am able to be of good service in general ways, I am not yet in right relationship with those intimately connected with me. I see the sin and do not know how to rightly love the sinner, though I know that I must learn to do so to live and grow in Christ. I must learn about and experience loving as Christ would have me do. My hesitancy, in the face of God's command to love others, is the sin that is ever before me. I find that, would the world end today, I would be judged by God by the same measure I have judged others. I continually pray for discernment on matters of relationship and to free myself from a defensive posture in my interactions with others. As I become able to regain the courage and will to rejoin the world of messy relationships and live them free from the sin of judgement, I will be at peace and begin to experience the joy of loving.

Let miracles

replace the pain

in all of us.

Lay Your hands on all our eyes,

that we might see

at last.

Amen

~~Marianne Williamson,

Illuminated Prayers

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Three things I am grateful for today:

1. A place to journal

2. My pets, God's simple creatures

3. The property damage last night was only a mailbox

Matthew 7:2 (English Standard Version) 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%207:2;&version=47 This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution - "with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God's throne down to us . Psalm 18:25-26 (English Standard Version) 25With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 26with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2018:25-26;&version=47 Romans 2:1 (English Standard Version) God’s Righteous Judgment 1Therefore 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. Romans 2:1, applies it even in a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the vary same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize others in the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, "Yes, all those, as well as other evils would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge." Jesus said, "Judge not, that you may not be judged" (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, "If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way." Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, "My God, judge me as I have judged others"? We have judged others as sinners - if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ. ~~My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers