Vengeance is Mine

I'm still chewing on Total Forgiveness and as I read on today I had some more thoughts. Often times in our lives when we see injustice, we want retribution immediately, and often times we take it on ourselves to be the judge or punisher if you will.

But that angers God. He said, “Vengeance is mine and mine alone”, we don’t have the authority to be a judge because we are flawed people. Kendall said in his book, What if every time you judged someone an angel of God came down and told the person you were accusing all of your sins? Would we feel so bold to point the finger then?

David was considered to be a man after God’s own heart. Yet even David could not escape the justice of God. He would have to answer for his sin of sleeping with Uriah’s wife and then having him killed so no one would find out about it.

You read in 2 Samuel the harsh punishment that God gives to David through the voice of Nathan the prophet, “The sword will never depart from your house!” Wow what a sentence! You see later on in David’s life his sentence being carried out in 2 Samuel, David’s illegitimate son with Bathsheba dies, later his other sons rise against him, his closest friends die by the sword, one of his sons sleeps with David’s wives on top of a roof in public for all to see.

What I am getting is that God doesn’t need our help in being a judge; he does just fine by himself. Nobody needed to carry out vengeance on behalf of Uriah’s honor. God saw everything and even though he loved David, David needed to be corrected. My conclusion is not very good, but I think I got more glimpses at God’s character and also mine through today’s little bathroom study of Total Forgiveness.

Do Not Judge, or You Too Will Be Judged

So I am still working through this book my pastor gave me called Total Forgiveness.

It takes me a while to finish a book because I only read when I'm on the John. Oh I also got distracted with this other book I bought Fedor.

It's an MMA book about Fedor Emelianenko, arguably one of the best mixed martial arts heavy weights out there. I know I'm such a dork.

Anyways, yesterday I was reading through a passage about Jesus' command "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

I am one of the most hateful and critical people I know. I love to hate, and I love judging and criticizing people. But when I do judge and criticize, I am essentially saying that person needs to change, that person needs to be more like me...I am better than that person.

I really need to look at it from this perspective the next time I want to judge someone harshly. I should be the last person to say I am better than you because I am a terrible person. My friend often jokes that some people come with baggage, but you come with one of those immigration bags! It's true.

Jesus is saying if you judge, others will judge you. There are probably a lot of people I know that don't like me for one reason or another. People might think or say, I'm a punk, insensitive, mean, angry, who does he think he is. More importantly I think Jesus is saying don't judge or God the ultimate judge will also judge you.

I already know he has given me so much grace, why can't I afford the same grace to others???