Lent Day 34: The Undeviating Test

I have always wondered, why is it so hard for we Christians to really internalize how God forgives us? Why do we believe we can confess our sins to God and get a total absolution, and yet refuse to forgive others that way with the Divine help that has been made available to us? What do we believe we are calling upon ourselves, when we ask God to forgive us as we forgive those who offend us? If God honors His word in that prayer, how much sin is He holding against us as we are holding in our hearts against others? In the same vein, how do we think we can get away with the way we judge others?

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you – Matthew 7:2

Oswald Chambers writes in a piece titled ‘The Undeviating Test’: In considering this eternal law, there is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus says that the basis of life is retribution – ‘with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the defects in others, remember that will be exactly the measure given to you. Life serves back in the coin you pay. And he notes that even God obeys this law: To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. (Ps. 18: 25-26)

Romans 2:1-3 implies that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the same thing. God not only looks at the act, he looks at the possibility. If we believe Romans 2, it means the reason we see hypocrisy, fraud and unreality in others is because they are all in our own hearts. The great characteristic of a saint is humility – Yes, all those things and other evils would have been manifested in me but for the grace of God, therefore I have no right to judge.

He concludes: Which one of us would dare to stand before God and say – “My God, judge me as I have judged my fellow men?” We have judged our fellow men as sinners; if God should judge us like that we would be in hell. Praise be to God for judging us through the marvelous atonement of Jesus Christ.

 

There go I but for the grace of God. A sentence to consider before accepting and verbalizing the criticism that comes readily into our minds.