Tuesday, November 2, 2021

The Judge Who Judges Justly

 

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

The Lord rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence.  Psalm 18:20

For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you.  He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.  He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.  He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered.  He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.  He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.  By his wounds you are healed.  1 Peter 2:21-24

There are many ways to misunderstand (and mis-use) God’s Word.  One of the chief offenses is to read-into Scripture that which you want to see, rather than checking the context of what’s written so you can accurately understand.  The case in point is in full view in both the Psalmist and Peter.

In the Psalm it’s common to take an absolutist position, that God will always immediately correct what seems like injustice.  If you’re injured by another’s words or actions, God’s going to cream your enemy like a steam roller crushing a poached egg.  What’s often missed in the equation is how truly “innocent” we are in anything.  The injustice may be a correct assumption; whether or not we have other lessons to learn may corrupt our assumption.

In Peter’s letter he is helping his flock understand the meaning of suffering not only AS Jesus suffered, but FOR the cause of Christ’s redemptive purposes.  There are times when the suffering of those who are being abused and oppressed serve the purpose of God’s just judgment.  The cross is the prime example.  Christ, the wholly-righteous one, died a criminal’s punishment to bring redemption.  It was the stripes on Christ’s back that brought our salvation.  A terribly misguided way to weaponize that verse is to apply the stripes to the mere healing of our bodily infirmities; that is using an elephant gun to wipe out a mosquito.  Christ’s stripes were for the healing of our sinful souls…much bigger game than healing a hangnail or a case of lumbago.

For You Today

The largest sense for either of the two Scriptures today is keeping our minds, hearts, and lives humble before God to do the judging.  Praying as Jesus did, that God’s will be done[1], is still the center of the target.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©    



 

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