Making Judgments
The wicked… are like chaff that the wind blows away…. The wicked will not stand in the judgment…. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1:4-6
How do we read verses like these that talk about the righteous and the wicked? Does everyone fall into one of these categories? Most people would say that it is pretty obvious that a few are really wicked, some are very good and most just about good enough. Yet we know that ‘all have sinned and come short of God’s glory’ and we are only made righteous ‘by grace through faith and that not of ourselves’. The righteous, who are rooted like a tree in living waters, are the repentant, not the good. The wicked, who have no substance so that the wind blows them away, are the unrepentant, but not the most wicked.
Surveys reveal that the church is often perceived as both hypocritical and judgmental; that Christians are, almost by definition, telling outsiders that they are wrong or wicked and insisting that Christians are all right. If only we could make others see that we are not talking about merit; that we are all in the ‘wicked’ category and that only grace, not works, makes us righteous in the end, we may begin to change that perception. Weeds and wheat will grow together in the same field until the final harvest judgment. We may be living and working with some ‘weeds’ who may change into ‘wheat’ tomorrow. ‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged,’ Jesus said.
So in ordinary every day living we may well have to challenge wickedness and honour righteousness – in Christians as well as non-Christians, and sometimes in the same person. Judging which category people are in we can and should leave to the Lord. But we have to stand by the truth that it is he, and he alone, who watches over our ways and will one day judge us all in love and justice.
Margaret Killingray
No comments:
Post a Comment