Judgement

This world is full of terrible people. Thieves who take advantage of the weak and defenseless, government leaders who ignore their people and instead fill their own pockets, gangsters who kill for no apparent reason, child molesters, terrorists, adulterers... we know of these people and read about them on the news but, for the most part, we don't interact with them. Instead we pour out our "righteous anger" on the offenses that touch us more personally- the boss who treats us unfairly, the jerk who hit our car in the parking lot and didn't confess to it, and the people at church who aren't nearly as holy as they pretend to be.

Who am I to judge? No matter what the sin of the man before me, no matter how much he has hurt me, I can never judge him. How would I possibly know how to judge such a complex creature? All I see is his act. I don't see what lies behind it- the hatred, the anger, the confusion, the loss, the abuse... How can I judge that? I only know how the outward expressions of his inward disaster have hurt me. I have no idea how his twisted existence has impacted others. I don't have any idea how it has impacted him. And I have no idea how it has impacted God.

Only God can know all of that. Only God can see- and understand- ALL of the mess. All of the hurt, all of the damage, all of the offences. Furthermore, He takes all of those offences personally. He is infinitely capable of empathy with each individual  one of His creations. Who am I to judge, based on my limited knowledge, when God judges ALL? We must always defer to the higher court.

We do not have to wonder how God will judge. We already know. God has clearly decreed it already- for his sins, this man deserves to die. Why do we think that God lets evil people get away things? He has given all sinners the death sentence!

However, God is gracious. That sentence was carried out, in all it's completeness- on God's own Son. That isn't just good news for rapists and terrorists and murderers. That is good news for me, because my sentence was death as well.

And so, the greatest indictment that I can give to any man is "He needs Jesus." Just as I need Jesus. If it were not for Jesus, we would all be in Hell together for eternity.
That man needs Jesus, and Jesus has chosen me as His ambassador. I need to put down the gavel and pick up the lamp.