Judging - Mirror or Light?

It has been something of a mystery for years why Paul asserts in Romans 2 that when we judge others we are guilty of the same things. I have heard many explanations and expositions and declarations about this but they always left me dissatisfied. Maybe my mind works too simple, but I have felt there must be some way of understanding this better.

Lately an analogy has come to me that seems to fit. I like analogies as people probably notice who have listened to me lately. While analogies usually fall short of complete explanation and may fall apart if taken to an extreme, they can also be very useful in translating concepts that are better understood by the heart into language which is primarily the function of the mind.

The passage I have been meditating on is Romans 2:1-4. It must always be remembered clearly that the chapter breaks were not part of the original text and many times disrupt our ability to get into what the original author was trying to convey. This is indeed the case here as well. These comments by Paul are in the context of Romans 1 and all the things presented there about the two “sides” of God being revealed: righteousness and wrath.

I like the way this reads from the Bible in Basic English. It goes like this –

“So you have no reason, whoever you are, for judging: for in judging another you are judging yourself, for you do the same things. And we are conscious that God is a true judge against those who do such things. But you who are judging another for doing what you do yourself, are you hoping that God's decision will not take effect against you? Or is it nothing to you that God had pity on you, waiting and putting up with you for so long, not seeing that in his pity God's desire is to give you a change of heart?” (Romans 2:1-4 BBE)

The New American Standard Bible that I study from reads as follows –

“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:1-4 NAS95)

What I am starting to see emerging as I have contemplated this longer and dialogged with God about it is that obviously there is a major difference between humans judging each other and God judging humans. It seems quite plain from the passage, though very baffling to most of us when applied to ourselves, that when we judge others for the “bad” things they do we are guilty of the same things ourselves. That is the part that I have struggled with for most of my life. It just seemed very illogical to claim that every time I judge someone for something I see in them that I am the same as they are.

I have over the years noticed more and more that the things I notice in others, the weaknesses and failings that seem to stand out for me, invariable show up sooner or later in my own life, albeit often in a different form or style. This has caused me to restrain myself more and more in my penchant for condemning others though it is still a great temptation. Many have settled on this principle as the full explanation for this passage. People in AA have a saying that goes, “if you spot it, you got it”. This is a very true fact of reality in how human beings are wired; we see most easily in others the weaknesses that plague our own lives.

But if that principle is equally applied to verse two then we introduce another major problem not so easy to explain. How can God “judge” people without having the same discrepancy that is seen when we judge them? I cannot except the arbitrary “religious” solution of simply saying God cannot sin or some other such declarations that shut down any exploration of this concept. I believe that there is a truth here that can be clearly understood and that will help us grow both in our understanding of our own nature and in the beauty of God's perfect character.

First of all I realized there might be a difference between the “judging” that we do and the “judging” that God does. Generally when we judge someone for their faults and sins we do it while infected with a spirit of condemnation. We are in fact projecting onto them the secret or not so secret feelings of guilt and pain we are feeling and want to draw attention away from ourselves onto others in a subconscious attempt to relieve our own uneasiness. This in fact is the process that I just discussed. But when God “judges” we must be extremely careful not to project onto Him the same motives and context that we are so familiar with inside ourselves. He has stated very emphatically, “'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.'” (Isaiah 55:8-9) That is one reason I like the way the BBE renders this as a “decision” by God rather than a “judgment”. It conveys the idea that what He is doing is not the same as what we do that carries with it a spirit of condemnation.

Our paradigm of projecting onto God our own perspective has been much of the cause of most of our crazy ideas about God, about His character and motives. Many popular and deeply entrenched beliefs and doctrines could be traced back to contamination from this source. Because we view God through human passions and paradigms we tend to mold Him into our image instead of accepting the truth about Himself that He wants to reveal to us through His word and His Spirit. This passage is a good illustration of God's efforts to reveal the real truth about Himself if we will take the time to meditate and receive higher truth as we lay aside our preconceived beliefs and listen to a new and thrilling revelation of the heart of the Almighty.

The analogy that I see here that helps me understand this more clearly is that of a mirror. There are several places in the Bible that use this concept directly and indirectly. I have been learning that we are all like mirrors; we reflect to others whatever it is that we focus on, whatever we fill our minds and hearts with, whatever direction we aim our mirror. If we focus on the faults of others we find ourselves becoming those faults. That's one reason I am becoming more and more reticent to listen to the media and the news as much as I used to because I see that it produces within my heart emotions and reactions that are most unhealthy and even destructive.

But God is not a mirror, although when we create a heart-belief about God in our own image we come to believe that He in fact does mirror our own emotions and characteristics. But, in fact, God is in reality not a mirror but the ultimate source of all light. A mirror cannot even be useful if there is not an external source of light which it can reflect. That is an amazing thought in itself that usually escapes us. But that is why when God “judges”, it is so different than when we judge. When God judges it is simply a “revealing” of what is, not an arbitrary decision or accusation. When God comes near, His very presence reveals what is true just as a light exposes more and more detail of anything we look at as a bright light comes closer and closer to it.

When Paul asks the question in verse 3 about religious people thinking they can escape the judgment of God while judging others, it is like he is asking how a mirror can escape being discovered itself in the presence of light. And to carry it logically farther, if a mirror is directed toward the sins of someone else when the light is turned on, what will be seen in the mirror is those very sins – not a very good position to find ourselves in the the day of revealing (judgment).

But the really exciting discovery in this passage is the revelation of what God's light looks like. It is found in verse 4 and should be the focus of our mirrors if we want to come into harmony with God so we will be ready when He appears in glory. The solution for us and for those we tend to judge is the same – repentance motivated by the “riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience”. For contrary to popular religious thinking, it is not fear and intimidation and terror that leads us to repentance; it is the kindness and love and tenderness of God that draws us into His embrace of forgiveness and empowering presence.

And if we continue to disbelieve this truth about God? Then the unavoidable consequences will be the effects of resistance being stored up within our hearts against His kindness and love called the “wrath” of God as stated in verse 5. It is not wrath as we normally think of wrath from a human perspective except that it will seem like it is because we have locked our minds into believing that God is just like us and will stubbornly insist that He is the one who is hurting us. We will resent Him and accuse Him and join with the enemy of God, the greatest liar in the universe, in charging God with atrocities that, in fact dwell in the heart of Satan and all his demonic kingdom.

The alternative to this is to live in the truth about God and grow in knowledge of His true character. This is the experience described in verse 7, “those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.” (Romans 2:7)

(next in series)

Resisting the Current

Wrath/power is revealed by the effects of resisting it.

Sin is transgression – resisting, living at cross-purposes with God's ways.

If you are enjoying white-water rapids flowing with the current you can have the thrill of being carried along with the powerful, surging water beneath you. But if you “dig in your heels” locking yourself to a rock or even trying to move cross-wise to the current, you will suddenly find yourself in realization of how intensely powerful and dangerous the water can be if you are not willing to move in synchronization with it.

The last half of Romans 1 is describing this very situation in contrast to the first half describing the very opposite. The identification of each is found in back to back verses 17 and 18 - “the righteousness of God is revealed”, and “the wrath of God is revealed”. Reading all the previous verses before 17 reveals the righteousness of God. Reading the following verses reveals the wrath of God.

But unlike the typical spin that most people assume by projecting their own feelings of wrath onto God's character, what in fact is revealed here is the natural consequences of resisting the powerful current of God's intense passion of love.

Just as trying to stop in the middle of a surging river or even move in a different direction suddenly and dramatically produces life-threatening danger, resistance to the power of God's love and His ways of relating produces life-destroying results. Why then do we blame God/the current for the dangerous consequences of our resistance when we could be enjoying the most exhilarating ride of our lives? In fact, this very penchant to blame God and accuse Him of arbitrarily imposing these “punishments” on those who resist Him in itself will put us in the path of resisting Him. If we chose to continue to blame God for sin's effects we will tragically find ourselves suffering those very effects. And the sad consequence will be that our conclusions will seem to be justified while in fact we are only living under the intense deception of sin and the lies that reinforce it.

Notice what Romans 1 really says about how God's “wrath” is revealed. I notice two important principles emerging here: (1) “they knew God” (v. 21), and (2) “God gave them over”, or released them. These are repeated in various ways throughout the rest of this chapter. What it is saying, to use our current analogy is that (1) they cannot help but notice that there is a strong current underneath their lives and that it is consistently urging them in a particular direction. But when they chose to “exchange” the real for the imitation (v. 23) and refused to “acknowledge God”, then in respect for their choice to resist the current of His love and passion for them God, in the intense anguish of His breaking heart for them “gives them over” to the terrible natural consequences of their stubborn resistance.

Just in case we glibly smile believing that we are safe from that problem, Paul goes on in chapter 2 to point out that when we harbor “judgment” in our hearts against others who are suffering these results of resisting the current we place ourselves in the same situation and will unwittingly find ourselves in the same danger as the ones we condemn.

I want to explore this much more but right now I want to sit in a raft and relish the sun and the spray in my face as the current of God's love surrounds me and carries me through this day.

(next in series)

Touch

Yesterday I spent all day in a seminar from Family Foundations Intl. called Overcoming Anger. It is a very powerful seminar and one that I highly recommend to everyone; it is not just for people who have obvious problems with anger.

As with all their seminars, they have small group prayer ministry between most of the presentations to allow opportunity for people to receive ministry for an issues that may be raised during the presentation. I find this a very effective format that is much better than the left-brain heavy seminars that most people are familiar with. Since this particular event was planned for only those who have been in training to be facilitators for future seminars, everyone there was familiar with the routine and the guidelines for these sessions. During one of the ministry sessions I attended the issue of touch came up and what is or is not appropriate in these settings.

This brief exchange got my mind stirred up to explore this issue in the Bible for myself. So this morning I got on my computer and searched the whole New Testament for every reference to touch that I could find. The results surprised me more than I expected.

What I found was that Jesus touched people a great deal more than many of us may even be comfortable with; and these are only the instances that were so significant that they were noted by the recorders of His story. I am sure they were many other times that were so common that they were simply accepted as normal for Him to do. But the real surprise came when I looked up the original word in Greek to see what its meaning is and discovered an important link back to the concept of “fire” that has been a subject of study for me recently.

The word translated “touch” in most places is the Greek word “haptomai”, with the following definition:

680. reflexive of 681; properly, to attach oneself to, i.e. to touch (in many implied relations):--touch.

Notice that it says this word is reflexive of 681. When I went to see the definition of 681 this is what I found:

681. hapto, a primary verb; properly, to fasten to, i.e. (specially) to set on fire:--kindle, light.

What I am seeing here is a description of touching that is far more than a casual or incidental touch. It is a touch that is connected with the idea or sensation of being set on fire or communication of power. I also found a few references to people wanting to touch Jesus or His garment with the same kind of touch, so this form of touch is not restricted to the touch of God. There were also references to touch that used different Greek words that did not have this meaning and were not associated with the idea of power but more like we think of just touching something.

As I looked through the New Testament at every reference to this word, I was very interested in the very last reference in the Bible. It is this text found in 1 John 5:18.

“We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.”

This really caught my interest. The message I see here is tied directly to the concepts I have been learning about the “wrath” of God and correct understandings about “fire” and “hell” that I have been researching. I have begun to collect these thoughts on my new blog site called Surprise Ending. The message that I see in all these references is that we need to be in touch with God in a way that will both bring “fire” into our lives and will make us agents to pass it along to others. And the exciting part about this is that when we are in that kind of relationship with God, one that is filled with the fire of His passion, one that is referred to in 1 John as “born of God”, then the evil one cannot touch us with his fiery touch. That to me is really good news.

Deferring to Another Post

Though I have a lot of things going through my head today, particularly as I am trying to get in touch with my heart and head in preparation for the upcoming Bat Barakah in two weeks; instead I am going to recommend another blog post that just enriched my heart this morning when I read it. I have been following this site for quite a few months since I stumbled across it and have enjoyed reading her posts about her life as a research assistant in Brazil. There have been great stories and pictures and insights into her mind that have kept me coming back to check on her regularly, though I never left a comment. But the most recent post from last Friday really spoke to me and I highly recommend it to anyone reading this today. Her name is Maria Susannah Bowman and you can read it on her site by clicking here.

Slandering God

The message in My Utmost this morning was again timed perfectly to address the issues of my heart right now. I have been under pressure to worry, to forget who I am inside, to give in to fear and panic as the date for the Bat-Barakah rushes in and almost nothing is getting done or even planned yet. Those around me are starting to doubt my sincerity about this and, as I suspected from the start a couple weeks ago, the devil is arranging all sorts of external, “important” distractions to keep me occupied. I delivered the THIRD transmission to the shop to get my daughter's car fixed while my other vehicles have serious problems of their own, my multiple jobs are creating pressure to stay busy paying attention to them, other very consuming interests are asserting themselves to my mind and the cat punctured my air mattress the other day so that I lost a lot of sleep slowly sinking to the floor all night until I had to get up at 4 AM to replace it with another. This is only to provide a glimpse of where I am inside right now for context. Yes, there is a lot of pressure to worry and stress about all these competing priorities, but this is nothing new and is experienced by everyone. It is my choices and reactions during all of this that determines the direction and outcome and whether I mature more or regress into the dark tombs of fear and depression. I believe this may be the fight referred to by Paul and the “fight of faith”. I would like to remind myself of some key phrases that God presented to me this morning as reinforcement for His plans to protect and guide my heart today. They are all from today's selection in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers that I quote from so often. “It is possible for us to misjudge our capacity.... We must not measure our spiritual capacity by education or by intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured by the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, before long we will slander Him....” First of all, this reminded me of the “joy capacity” that Dr. Wilder teaches about. Joy capacity is a very real function of our brain and is increased physically by experiences of joy, of people being glad to be together. It is also the very same part of the brain that handles stress and trauma. It is like a flexible bucket in our brain designed for multiple functions. If it is not big enough for the trauma we experience, then our mind will resort to all sorts of other tricks to cope with the experience and hide it away until our “joy bucket” grows to enough capacity to be used to process it effectively. What I find intriguing here is tying our capacity to the immense resources of the promises of God. Failing to establish this connection between our inner life and the external resource of God's powerful promises will always result in anger and slander toward God, holding Him responsible and blaming Him for all our problems. We will end up saying, “'You expect more than You give me power to do; You demand too much of me, I cannot stand true to You where I am placed.' When it is a question of God's Almighty Spirit, never say 'I can't.' Never let the limitation of natural ability come in. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in us.” That is very strong medicine, but I need it right now. I believe that I am being led by the Spirit even though I am very wobbly at many times. God has promised to do His “thing” in me and I hold Him to His promise. I also firmly believe He has arranged and prompted us to plan and go through with this important event in the lives of our daughter's and I want to stay in cooperation with His leading. Most importantly I want to keep my own spirit in line with His Spirit during the process. The next section touches on something I have been thinking about off and on for several days. I have made the observation to a few friends that it seems to me like anger is always directly related to a perception of unfairness, whether actual or not. Unfairness is linked directly to justice and if followed through fully will always end up back at anger toward God for His perceived injustice toward us. While many people do not express it that way, if it were revealed I believe that is what would be found inside their heart. This next paragraph reinforced that idea and really flushed it out more clearly. “The servant (Matt. 25 parable) justified himself in everything he did and condemned his lord on every point – 'Your demand is out of all proportion to what you give.' Have we been slandering God by daring to worry when He has said; 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you?' Worrying means exactly what this servant implied – 'I haven't had a decent chance,' and the one who is lazy spiritually is captious with God. Lazy people always strike out on an independent line.” This is a very important principle for me to remember. Worry equals slander! So the reality of it is that every time I am tempted to worry I am really being tempted to slander God, His attitude toward me and His ability to take care of me. I certainly do not want to find myself in a position of slandering God, but I also have to admit that I really am in that position far too often. Making it clear in this way helps me to see the real issues at stake and reminds me of what is really going on. It removes one more layer of deception that the enemy has had over me most of my life. One more point I would like to share that I have also been discussing with my friends related to this. I have observed that self-justifying is never a part of God's way of living. Not only does God ask us not to justify ourselves, He also never justifies Himself. I know that sounds like heresy, but if we think about it carefully I think we will find it to be true. That is why all through the Bible God talks about us as being His witnesses. God is conducting His part in the Great War between good and evil in such a way so that ultimately He will be justified by His creatures without resorting to defending Himself. That is one of the underlying principles of existence that has been twisted and distorted by sin. Our selfish hearts naturally tend to justify ourselves at every opportunity and therefore we assume that God operates the same way. But if we consider carefully God's ways I believe we will discover that true justification always has to come from another. The real catch in this is that when we resort to self-justifying and defending ourselves, which comes oh so naturally and spontaneously, we actually are precluding God being able to justify us by His grace. That is why the only way we can stand justified before God is by confession and repentance which are the exact opposite of defensiveness and self-justification. That is the irony of the gospel; the only way one can obtain justification is to resist justifying one's self. Self-justification is resistance toward God and His offer of redemption. And as I am learning more and more, resistance in the presence of power results in heat, pain and ultimately death. “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ His Son.”