Why judgment is a gift..........

Right!  Standing in judgment, hearing how we have failed or how we have wounded another rarely feels like a gift.

It usually feels more like a ton of bricks falling on our head.  Or, possibly like that bright, hot light of interrogation that all the police used in the old movies.  Or maybe it just feels like standing naked with nowhere to hide.  But it doesn't feel like a gift.

If you go looking in the Bible there are lots of examples of judgment being pronounced.  The prophets specialized in judgment, although they would then almost always add a word of restoration. Two stories of judgment stand out in the Old Testament:  God's judgment on Eli and his family and the judgment pronounced on King David after the Bathsheba incident.

Eli was the chief priest and had allowed his sons to steal from the offerings and other assorted unacceptable behavior and the young prophet Samuel had to tell him God's judgment on the whole affair:  the family would be erased, all would die, no exceptions.

The Bathsheba incident is awful in another way.  David decided to use his power and perogative as king to bring Bathsheba, a married woman, to his bed.  Once he learned that she was pregnant, David arranged for her husband to be killed in combat.  Nice, huh.  The prophet Nathan was sent by God to show David the error of his ways.

Not a lot of fun, right?  Then how can we possibly see judgment as a gift to us?

Well, consider this.  Without judgment, who would know that they have offended God?  Or one another?  Without a word of judgment, who would stop and consider their behavior or their moral obligations?  Without a word of judgment, who would right any wrongs?

Who could be forgiven?

Without judgment, forgiveness is no more than a cheap perfume over pervasive stench.  It accomplishes nothing but lulling us into a false sense of contentment.  It certainly doesn't give us back our lives.

So we stand in judgment before God, in the spotlight of God's call to live in love with and for each other, and we see all that is truly wrong.  It is not fun, but it is a gift.

But it is the first step towards forgiveness.  It makes forgiveness powerful and life changing.  It deepens our relationship with the Lord of All, and the great lover known as Jesus.

What do we do the moment after we realize we are wrong?  Confess...........