Judgment

I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. John 12:46-48 New Living Translation (NLT) Jesus was sent to save mankind from sin. His mission was carried out as He walked among us and demonstrated love that the world had never known. Fully God, yet fully man, He experienced our human nature and gave His life to reconcile us to our Creator, God the Father. Although He showed compassion to the lost, Christ was no wimp. He recognized everything that was wrong and promised to make it right if we followed His Word. Christ was the Word made flesh and the sacrifice of His sinless life would first make us right with God and give us a chance to live according to His Word. We were given a reprieve. We were given grace. Those who reject His message now will be dealt with later. Like most humans with a mission, Christ was focused on His mission: God's plan of redemption. Through God's mercy, with the help of the Holy Spirit we are given the opportunity to learn and to grow in Jesus while covered in His righteousness before He returns. It is then He will judge. Basically, what this means is that we ourselves are not the judges. So why do we have so many judges? If Jesus came from Heaven first to shine His light on our darkness enabling us to see and know the truth, who are all these earthly judges condemning other people? All of us have fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). The world is very troubled now but God is still on the Throne. We have much work to do as we endure our own individual tests and trials. All we really have time to do as we wait for the trouble God has promised to end is to work on being the people Christ taught us to be, and to love and help each other as we do it. This will prepare us for our own final judgment by the Real Judge. Living the kind of lives Christ died to save us for should keep us pretty busy.