I'm a judger. I judge. Romans 12:1-8

Romans 12:1-8

                I go to the grocery store often, perhaps too often.  Kristin and I (actually more Kristin) try to plan out our meals for the week and shop accordingly, but I get hungry to make a certain meal or we forget and ingredient or two and I end up making the short, 2 minute drive to the store down the street.  Because I’m there too much, I know exactly where everything is and I can get in and out fairly quickly.  Almost every time I’m at the store, I unconsciously play a little game with myself that’s a dangerous and harmful one, and as I look at Romans 12 today, I realize just how dangerous it is.

                I judge people.  I’m a judger.

                You know what I’m talking about don’t you? (I hope!)  The screaming child obviously has a poor parent watching over them.  The person who is slow in making their selection at the butcher counter ahead of me is obviously indecisive or judgmental about the products offered.  The guy with the big case of beer is an alcoholic.  The woman wearing revealing clothes is loose.  The person paying with food stamps is lazy.  The list goes on.  Whenever I’m in a context where there are people from all different cultures and walks of life; and my grocery store is certainly one of them, I judge outward appearances and behavior and put myself above just about every other person in that store in some way, shape, or form.

                And that’s wrong; dead wrong.  In fact, it’s sinful.  It’s heinous, ugly sin.

                Romans 12 calls us to renew our minds as a spiritual act of worship.  But the way that it calls us to that renewal reaches out and grabs me by the scruff of the neck and forces me to look at myself in the mirror.  “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”  Ouch.

                I sit in judgment on all these folks while clinging desperately to the grace given me in Christ; a grace freely offered by God not because I deserve it, but because of His love for me and because HE makes me worthy through the righteousness of Jesus.

                Not because I’m clean and sober, or a great parent, or a snappy dresser or a pastor, but because God wills it and gives me relationship with Him despite my foolishness and sin.  That has to transform me, not just in how I view myself as a child of God, but in how I view others; especially the least of these.  My response to God’s grace has to move me to see myself as a saint of God through the grace of Christ, AND view others as potential grace-saved children of the King.

                Maybe I shouldn’t go to the grocery store so often.  Maybe better would be to go to the grocery store differently; with my eyes open to all of the other image bearers of God that I’ll see there who may be fellow revelers in the grace of Jesus Christ.