Truth Avoidance
Just because we can spot those who do evil doesn't mean we are free of judgment ourselves.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them. Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. You say, "We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth." Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will repay according to each one's deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. - Romans 1:28-2:11
Just because God is willing to forgive us, it doesn't give us license to go out and do what He hopes we won't do.
Paul warns us not to store up wrath for ourselves.
When we look at the things others do and judge them, without seeing how we do the same things, we are just avoiding the truth.
It is so easy for us to slip into this type of behavior. All we need to do is envy what we see in others.
When we see others doing what we would love to do without consequences, well, then why not us?
One of the odd things about our minds is that we can actually judge those who do what we do and not judge ourselves.
We do this to shift the focus away from us, and we can actually convince ourselves we are better than they are.
Remember the man who prayed aloud thanking God he was not like the tax collector?
We have it in us to be able to avoid the truth about ourselves while focusing on judging what we see in others.
Maybe we should focus on our own truth first. We might just discover something good about ourselves in the process.
More to come...