.png)
In our human nature, we all love to play God. We try to be the god over our lives by planning out our future and doing everything in our power to make sure that everything will go just the way we want it to. It’s unnatural for us to give up control, to be completely dependent on Him, and to surrender our lives to Him. But, when we get so caught up with trying to direct and control our lives, we forget that God is sovereign and king over everything.
We also love to play God when we take the role of judging others. I remember when I first gave my heart to Christ, I tend to judge people according to my moral standards. After I got baptized, I judged people according to the values in the Bible. But I came to the realization that it’s not my place to judge other people. It is God who has the authority to judge our sins. Why? Because God is perfect and holy, and I am not. We were not designed to process and handle all the sins in this world. God can, but not us. Not with our brokenness and limitations. When we judge people, it’s often not out of love. Rather, it’s out of a critical and self-righteous heart. It’s not easy to love. I often find myself getting easily offended and struggling to empathize with others. The problem is the condition of our hearts. Deep down, we don’t believe that loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us, and doing good to those who mistreat us, is possible or even necessary. If we constantly fail to love others in the way God has commanded us to, how is it even possible for us to do a good job of judging others? Since our human nature is broken by sin, we are incapable of judging others in the just and loving way like God can.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
C.S. Lewis once wrote that love “begins to be a demon the moment he begins to be a god.” He explains,
Every human love, at its height, has a tendency to claim for itself a divine authority. Its voice tends to sound as if it were the will of God himself. It tells us not to count the cost, it demands of us a total commitment, it attempts to over-ride all other claims and insinuates that any action which is sincerely done “for love’s sake” is thereby lawful and even meritorious. (The Four Loves, 7–8)
It is not our place to judge others in the way that Jesus will judge everyone at His Second Coming. Instead of judging the sins of other people, we need to first examine and look at the sin within our own hearts.
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)
We need to pray and ask God to help us love others with a Christ-like love. That when we do catch a brother or sister in sin, we may restore them in kindness, humility, and love– rather than judgment and self-righteousness. That we will not see ourselves as greater or more righteous than our neighbour who we catch in sin. But that we will see them as brothers and sisters who are equally in need of God’s grace and forgiveness as we are.
Let us not forget that the Lord Almighty is the one true God. He is the only one who has the authority to and is capable of perfectly judging us in righteousness. He is the one who is holy, glorious, kind, sovereign, loving, and just– not us. And if we have decided to devote our lives to following Him, we also need to give up control and stop playing god. We need to stop insisting on how we want things to be, and rather submit ourselves to the Lord’s will.
Our heavenly Father has not forgotten, nor forsaken you. And He never will. He formed your inmost being; He knitted you together in your mother’s womb. You were fearfully and wonderfully made. You are a beloved child of God, and He is still working. When things don’t go according to our plans, do we, as Paul says, “despair even of life”, run from Him? Or do we run to Him? Friends, there is no hope in this world – the evidence is mounting. But God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son. Right into this mess. Right into the hate and division, the sickness and suffering. Right into scandals and politics. To die for us. Not because we deserve it, but because He is our God Almighty. Because He is good. He did that so we can know Him, bring us hope, and rescue us from our sinfulness.
I can run to someone who loves me that much.
“Dear Heavenly Father, please bless us with a heart that loves people. Give us hearts that will reverently fear you above all else, Almighty God. Heal our hearts and may we trust you. In Jesus' name, Amen.”
Comments