Condemnation
There is an awful lot of condemnation going on these days, don't you think?
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’ - John 3:16-21
John made the point simply. Either we follow Jesus or we don't, and if we don't, we are condemned, not by one another, but by God.
It is worse to be condemned by God. That is for ever, while condemnation by one another lasts only as long as we are alive, if it lasts that long.
When it comes to judging one another, we don't seem to have a problem. We hear something or read a post and we swiftly jump to a conclusion. That guy is guilty, we say. And even after the story is debunked, we tend to believe it.
But when it comes to God being able to judge us, we seek forgiveness and understanding through God's grace, rather than accept that we could be condemned.
It makes sense, I guess, that we should expect greater leniency from God than we are willing to give ourselves, since we are mere mortals.
John says we love evil and live in darkness. That may be true. We are quick to judge and may even avoid the truth just to hold onto our judgments. Can we be different?
Can we take a breath and avoid making a judgment, just long enough to wait for the truth? And if the truth bears out the claim, can we still avoid judging, condemning?
If we can, there may be hope for us with God. If we can't, John says we are condemned.
More to come...