Kindness Over Judgment

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Text: Romans 2:1-16

Reflection: It's interesting to note that the heading for this section of scripture is God's righteous judgment. To some extent this is accurate as the passage no doubt talks about how God's judgment is accurate. But the main issue in this section is not really God's judgment of us, but rather his kindness and patience with us. (see verse 4) The whole point here is that we tend to pass judgment on others even though we ourselves have sinned in the same way as those whom we judge. Yet God, who is righteous and without sin, chooses to show kindeness and patience hoping to lead us toward confession and healing. For this reason we should think twice about judging other people. It seems to me that I have two choices when a person sins against me. First, I can judge them...and in doing so risk giving up God's patience as He is forced to also judge me. On the other hand, I can extend kindness and patience to them in the same way God has done for me. The question is will I imitate God or retaliate in anger. I'm thinking showing kindness is the way to go.