Tuesday Reading: 1 Corinthians 4:1-6
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 4:4
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judges me is the Lord.
Devotion:
If you had to pick one person who would stand up for you and judge you, who would you pick? To me that would be an insanely difficult choice because the people that I know are so very different and probably think of me in very different ways; not all those people being privy to my personal life and my personal feelings. By that very same reasoning I should not expect to be able to judge others. We can stand here and look at how others are acting and consider that their ways are not right, but unless we are proving them against God’s Word in a proper manner, then we are attempting to judge them in our own ways.
Yes, God did set apart judges in the old days to make sure that people would follow the laws. We have a full judicial system now that is supposedly set apart to do that for us now – but which law they follow is up for some discussion. Gone are the days when the judges would fall on the side of God’s law rather than man’s laws. Gone are the days when men would have to pay fully for what they have done – or at least that is how we tend to view the system because of the corruption that we can see and hear about. But being in that position to have to judge others means that we ourselves would have to know the law. The more that man tries to intervene and change the law, the more horribly mixed up man becomes and starts tripping over his own feet trying to justify his own laws. Our laws are not perfect, but God’s are!
We have grown up in this society where we have been exposed to corruption and many vain things; it is little wonder then that we do tend to give in to many things that we can see are not right. It is our Lord and Saviour who is able to strengthen us and keep us from giving in to those temptations if we are willing to allow Him to work in our lives.
I have been guilty of judging others and I have paid for doing that. When you realise that you have been guilty of anything, that guilt will work hard at your soul as God tries to remind you of your own failings. That is not you judging yourself, because you have already failed at that point. It is God working in you to bring you to conviction. Only when you start listening to that conviction will you be reminded of how Just God is. He is our Lord and Saviour but He is our Judge. He is our redeemer but He is that one who has already lain down the law. We cannot and must not change that law, but we can follow it willingly!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like being judged?
Are you using God’s Word as your guideline?
