Two thousand years ago, the religious
authorities brought a woman to Jesus and told him that she was caught in
the act of adultery. The punishment for adultery was death by stoning.
They asked Jesus what they should do. Jesus said, “He that is without
sin, let him cast the first stone.” Jesus was not condoning
immorality. He was simply making the point that no one is qualified to
cast a stone in self-righteousness at another person.
God is the judge of how each person lives, and He is fully qualified and
able to judge in a fair manner without my help. I don’t need to become
a religious policeman, judge, or jury. I need to love everyone who has
problems and leave the judgment up to God.
The judgment I pass on others becomes the standard by which I am
judged. If I get caught in the trap of self-righteousness, I set a high
bar over which I will have to jump.
My chance of being perfect is zero,
and if I am smart, I won’t criticize other people who are not perfect.
Whatever shortcomings others have, I will send them my love and leave
the judgment up to God. The day I become perfect will be the day I have
the right to become the arm of God and cast the first stone. Until
then, I will send them God’s love.
God knows our spiritual DNA, and He is the only one qualified to judge
how people live.
Humans have several major flaws
in their character. They frequently rush to judgment, and they
have personal biases that adversely influence their ability to judge in
a fair manner. They may be wrong, but they are rarely in doubt.
The Innocence Project has saved many people from death row who were
convicted of crimes they never committed. Over and over again, the
single piece of evidence that proved their innocence was DNA.
Their DNA was not present at the crime scene. A rush to judgment
based on circumstantial evidence resulted in the punishment of the
innocent.
Fortunately, God is our judge, and that's good news. We don't ever have
to worry that God will judge us in an unfair manner. We aren't
going to end up on spiritual death row because God doesn't know all the
facts or because God has an axe to grind.
We also don't ever have to go on spiritual jury duty and judge other
people. God can do it just fine without our help.
Since God knows our spiritual DNA, He is able to look inside our heart
and mind and judge in a fair and equitable manner. God isn't going
to make any mistakes, and the Innocence Project doesn't need to review
his judgments. In fact, God is running his own Innocence Project.
God says that you have the privilege of being one of his children, and
you dare to call him your Father. He has forgiven your sins and
cast them into the deepest sea. God not only wiped your slate clean, He
threw the slate away.
God says that you are made in his image, and that you bear his likeness.
He loves and accepts you the way you are, but He loves you too much to
let you stay that way. God has a dream for your life that is
better than anything you can imagine, and if you get in agreement with
him, your life is going to be an awesome adventure.
God injected his spiritual DNA inside you when you became one of his
children. You are now a new person with a new life. You have
a new way of thinking, feeling, and acting.
There is no limit to how good your life can become when God's love rolls
through your heart and mind.
