Greetings
On Saturday, we enjoyed beautiful Spring weather. Yesterday, I was digging out winter wear as I prepared myself for church. Do you hate when the weather is unpredictable? Fine one moment and totally different the next? Perhaps it’s the absence of constancy which actually is the problem. And on occasion, we may be inclined to apply the same approach to our relationships.
Hmmmm.(Or should that be ouch?) Today’s Holy Nougat offers a challenge to our views of human consistency.
For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. James 2:10 NLT
We are expected to keep ALL of God’s Law! Now that’s Mission Impossible. Yet it is what we impose on our Christian friends in our daily routines. And so help the person God if the lawbreaker is NOT our friend! I am not advocating for leniency, nor for a laissez faire approach to life. God has standards. God calls each of us – yes every single one of us – to mind those standards! But I’m not wholly convinced that we are called to determine another’s eternal fate. Not at all. No matter how tempting it is to do just that.
For, the moment we embark upon that journey, Jesus begins writing in the sand. Awaiting our recognition of our own individual sin. Which we cannot right on our own. Moreover, while there’s life, there’s hope for God’s transformation. Even if it’s past the eleventh hour. For there is nothing too hard for God – including softening a heart of stone. (God changed us, right?)
So where does that leave us, in continued disobedience of God’s Law? Or in a state of anarchy? God forbid. But we are further challenged to re-examine or attitudes to the ‘sinners’ out there and to check our own motives, lest we are judging and condemning so that we might look pure. For we all have sinned … every single one of us. Let’s address our own individual sin before casting judgement or condemnation.
Could it be time for a shift in attitude?
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
