I'm reading through Romans right now ... like really reading it ... pondering each word, trying to understand what Paul (the writer of the book) is saying. I was starting chapter two this morning and somethings really hit me in the first few verses:
1. Paul starts off the chapter by talking about judging others - we are inexcuseable to do so. He says, "... for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things." WOW. How easy is it to look at someone else's actions and judge them? And yet, as Paul says here, when we do that we are really condemning ourselves because we do the same things. Admit it. The things we so easily can point out that are wrong in other people's lives are really the same things we struggle with. Maybe we aren't acting on the same things, but you'll realize that it's those same things that we struggle with in our hearts. Think about it in your own life - what are you the most apt to judge in others? I bet you that you have that same struggle in your heart.
2. Verse 4 was the kicker for me: "... do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" I have always been a person who clearly knows right from wrong, and have strongly believed that you should be punished if you're doing what is wrong. I had my 4th grade teacher call me a tattle-tale once. Ha. The boy sitting across from me, Michael McCarthy (why I specifically remember his name, I don't know), was coloring on the top of his desk with a black Crayola marker. Ummm ... I knew this was wrong. Who was ever allowed to color on their desk with marker? No one. Ever. At least as far as I knew. I remember telling Michael he shouldn't do that, but when he didn't stop, I got up and told my teacher, Ms. Slade, "Michael is coloring on his desk with marker." I swear I didn't say it in a nasty, snotty way at all, but her only reply to me was, "Sylvia, you need to stop being a tattle-tale." Ha! It actually hurt my feelings when she said that. I didn't understand - I was merely seeing a bad action by someone else and knew it should be stopped (Side note: I don't think I ever "tattled" on anyone else in elementary school after that). In my mind, when people do something wrong, they need to be punished. But in verse 4, Paul reminds us of the goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering of God. If God wasn't all these things, then none of us would make it into heaven. We are born with that nasty sin in our hearts. I'm just waiting for when Seth lies or hits out of anger for the first time. It's going to be sooner than I think, only to prove that sin is not learned.
3. So often when people talk about the need to be saved and turn to God that they say, "You don't want to go to hell, do you?" It's like Christians are trying to scare people into heaven by talking about how bad hell is. Well that's true, that's not what's going to get people into heaven. It's clear here that it's God's goodness that brings people to Himself. Unlike any other religion, we have a good God who wants us, despite ourselves.
Praise the Lord for His patience with us. Praise the Lord for His convictions ... may we reflect on our own hearts when we feel the urge to judge others, and then become right with Him.
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