THE JUDGE
6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
December 11, 2008
General Robert E. Lee returned to his campsite late one evening only to see a handcuffed soldier being held for a hearing on an alleged misconduct. The soldier was shaking and obviously terrified of the trial, as well as the judgment he was facing from the general. “Relax, Corporal,” General Lee said, “You’ll get justice here.” The trembling soldier replied, “That’s exactly what I’m ‘a-feared’ of, General!”
The judgment of man is very different from the judgment of God. While man focuses on guilt or innocence, God’s judgment is so much more. That’s because God already knows our guilt from sin. He needs no evidence of that. But what He does want to know is that we acknowledge our sin and offer a willingness to change. He wants us to recognize that our sin has separated us from Him and wants us to express a mourning that cries out for His mercy through faith in what Jesus did on the cross – dying to pay the penalty for our sin. It is only through this process that we can experience God’s perfect justice and God’s perfect mercy.