Week 38 2013 Judge, Jury, and God

I’m a Christian.  Furthermore, I am happy to be a Christian.  This identity places me in an isolated community of other somewhat like-minded people.  Like any family we have our spats and disagreements.  But, when the rubber meets the road, extreme persecution takes place, areas of agreement are attacked, we come together in support of our common ideals, our communal identity.  We are generally our own worst critics.  We tend to tear each other down, exposing perceived faults, in essence, becoming judge and jury in our condemnation.  Unwittingly, we take the position reserved for God, separating the wheat from the tares.  To make matters worse, we do all of this in the presence of unbelievers, bringing shame upon ourselves, presenting an ugly portrait of the very God we extol, and leaving the door open for well-deserved criticism from those who love to discredit any belief in a Creator.

When an atheist stands in the place of God, becoming judge and jury in condemnation of the church, they do so with the proper credentials.  Not having a perceived faith in an eternal being, they have no fear of being condemned by the One who is able to ultimately bring that condemnation.  When judgment day comes and they are forced to bow the knee their only shock will be that He really does exist.  On the other hand, when those who have known that God is real stands before His throne and hears the words, “Depart from me, I never knew you,” the shock will come having to acknowledge that they have wrongly taken the place of God in judgment of others and excluding them from a place in the kingdom that citizenship is only founded in and by the Lord.  These will discover that their pious position of judge, jury, and God has resulted in their own exclusion from the kingdom of which they had presumed to have exclusive control, refusing or offering membership to those of their choosing based upon their interpretations of God’s word.

Therefore, I am a Christian.  The only reason I find myself in God’s kingdom is because He chose to add me.  Membership in His church has never, nor will ever, have anything to do with what anyone else deems to be proper credentials.  I am fully aware that as I walk the streets of this kingdom I am walking side by side with some who will ultimately be removed.  And, that that removal will be done by the only One qualified to do so.