Judging the Law In Our Judgmentalism

Evil Judgment and James 4 Logic

Jane was known for her relentless judgment of everyone around her. As she listened to the narrative about the Pharisee from Luke 18 who prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector,” she smugly retorted that those people are self-righteous sinners in need of severe judgment. In blindness to her own judgmentalism, she then exclaimed, “Thank God I’m not like them!” But what was most memorable was that I found myself thinking, “Thank you, Lord, that I’m am not like this self-righteous woman!”

Oh, how quickly our heart can fall into elevating our own righteousness over others. Though we turn up our noses toward haughty Pharisees who glory in their own estimation of themselves, how often are we self-righteous toward the self-righteous? How can the wisdom from James help us?

James 4:11-12 says, “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?”

Following the train of thought from the larger context of James 4, idolatrous desires often lead to quarrels (James 4:1-2). Quarrels flow from and feed our pride, which God is opposed to (James 4:6). Pride also motivates censorious, self-righteous judgment. Therefore, speaking evil and judging our brother flows from proud, idolatrous hearts. This logic of James 4 may make sense to our intellect and experience. Yet, we may begin to scratch our muddled heads when we read that judging our brother is akin to speaking evil against the law and judging the law. How do we understand this?

God’s Perfections and our Judgment

God’s law is perfect, holy and righteous. We are forbidden from editing his law because it reveals his holy character. Scripture affirms that Christ alone fulfilled the righteous requirements of God’s law. When we judge our brother contemptuously, we also arrogantly judge ourselves to be in compliance to the law that we deem our brother to be breaking. Like the rich young ruler from Matthew 19, we believe ourselves to be good like God. By necessity, we inadvertently adjust the law by softening or reducing the holy and unbending standards to a more manageable level. Manageable for us that is; yet not our brother. This self-justifying modification of the law “speaks evil against the law and judges the law.” (James 4:11)

When we amend God’s holy law to our benefit, we exalt ourselves above God as the new and improved lawmaker, lawgiver, and judge. We attempt a coupe in order to overthrow God by exchanging His rule for our own! James is quick to warn that there is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy (James 4:11-2).

Is There a Place for Judgment?

Does this mean that we ought never judge? Are we not called to speak the truth in love and judge fruit righteously? (Eph 4:15, Mt 12:33-37) How can we do this well and in a way that doesn’t judge or speak evil against God’s perfect law?

Judgment can be motivated either by sinful pride and idolatry or authentic love. The exhortation to take the log out of our own eye first (Matthew 7:1-6) often exposes our heart. We must believe the veracity of the words from the lips of Christ that what we see in our brother is a splinter in comparison to our plank. Yet, the judgment itself is proof of our blindness and unbelief regarding our sin. It is imperative that we locate ourselves on the spectrum of the sin that we are judging in our brother (I Cor. 10:12). If we find ourselves guiltless, our measurement is faulty and we are yet blind.

Our plumb line is to be perfect obedience. Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” When we squarely face the rigid, unyielding law and the requirement of perfect adherence, we are back on the spectrum of sin. By God’s grace, we may finally see and assess ourselves as guilty. This revelation moves us from pride toward humility and we are one step closer to humbly beating our breasts and pleading for mercy (Luke 18:13-14).

When we are humbled enough to confess our sin, James 4:6 assures us that God gives generous grace to appropriate to our needy souls. Owing only to the sufficient sacrifice of Christ for sin, we receive in faith full forgiveness and pardon from the Father. We willingly forsake the tenuousness of our own record, and cling instead to the imputed and flawless righteousness of Christ granted to us in the gospel. The relief and sweetness of the gospel changes our hearts from cold, self-righteous pride and judgment to hearts full of joy and gratitude to God for grace.

Having been broken by the demands of the law and genuinely comforted by gospel grace, we can approach a person like judgmental Jane as a fellow sinner in need of mercy. The lavish love of God that  rescued us from our sin compels us to extend the same rescuing love to her. Love that desires the best for Jane calls us to humbly and gently confront the sin that would seek to enslave and destroy her. Pointing Jane to the comfort, hope and strength that the gospel offers allows our judgment of sin to be redemptive, restorative and life-giving instead of evil, judgmental and self-righteous. 

Crockpot Sanctification

Crockpots can be an exercise in impatience! They take time and require maintaining a low, steady heat to cook. Pulling the top off of a crockpot to check progress just delays the prolonged process of cooking even more. Unfortunately, my doubts and impatience with the claims and promises of my crockpot tempt me to check under the lid often. I confess, I do not always trust my crockpot!


Crockpots can be similar to sanctification, the long, ongoing process whereby God changes us into the image of Christ starting at conversion and culminating in glory. Though faithfully steady, this course of change in both crockpots and sanctification can seem painfully sluggish. 2 Cointhians 2:18 ensures us that God is transforming us into the likeness of Christ from one degree (crockpot pun intended) of glory to the next. The indwelling Holy Spirit guarantees change in the child of God. Nevertheless, how often are we impatient with slow change in ourselves, our spouse, our children, or our friends? How often are we irritated by the transformation that is yet lacking? How frequently do we mistrust the claims and promises of our God concerning sanctification? Akin to checking a crockpot’s progress only an hour after the cooking has started, we have doubts about the process of transformation through sanctification as well. We are frustrated by the slow rate of change. We prefer quick results, microwave speed.

Emotions Reveal our Heart

Our impatience may seem righteous at first glance, and in fact could have been righteous at the start. The basis of our impatience may have began as a loving desire for those we love to be passionate about Christ, evidenced by holy words and deeds that reflect their zeal. Assuming our desires are righteous and motivated by love, what do you suppose the fruit of this “love of neighbor” would look like? Engaging encouragement? Unwearied support? The existence of impatience and irritation may indicate that our once loving desires may have gone off the tracks. These disordered emotions are useful gifts that enable us to understand our hearts.

Questions to Probe the Heart

Interrogating, self-directed questions may aid in exposing our true motives, false beliefs and misdirected trust.  Why am I impatient? Whom am I impatient with? How does this person’s growth or lack of growth affect me? Do they make me look bad? Am I comparing this person to someone else? If so, who? Am I afraid of the outcome of their faith? What do my fears suggest? According to my theology, who has the ultimate control over a person’s growth in holiness? What do I believe about the nature, efficacy and rate of sanctification?

Impatience with God

These questions and more like them help us to slow down and think clearly about what our emotions may be revealing  about our hearts. Frustration and impatience often reveal an anger over the lack of control that we have over any given situation. These disordered emotions may help us see that we are grasping for that control and not getting it. And who would we be wrestling with? If God has ultimate control, are we frustrated and impatient with Him? Do we doubt His wisdom and methods?  Assuming we could  take the reins, what exactly would we do differently?  Would transforming gospel grace be the principal means by which we would ensure transformation?  Would grace seem too slow? Too risky and unpredictable? Would we be tempted to revert back to a few good, firm laws with built-in consequences? Wouldn’t that be more effective and manageable? Laws give the illusion that we have taken back control.  Grace simmers away at crockpot speed while law turns the oven up to 450 degrees, forcing quick external changes on the outside yet remaining cold at the core.  

Judgementalism or Gracious Love

Notwithstanding the prideful stance of attempting to wrestle control away from God and possibly enacting a different method of change, there is yet another facet of the heart that may need exposure.  While love of neighbor encourages us to speak the truth in love as a means of growth and change, our impatience about another’s process may expose a prideful judgmentalism. When we look upon another in censorious judgment rather than in love and compassion, we are undoubtedly comparing them to someone else. Who might that be? Very often, we are comparing their growth to our own.

Our pride deceives and blinds us. We lose sight of the truest standard of holiness and acceptability before a Holy God, namely perfection. Stacking our performance up against the demand for perfection ought us leave us shaking at Mt. Sinai, like Moses of old who said, “I tremble with fear.” (Hebrews 12:18-21)  If we understood our own sin, brokenness, and failures to worship and live out faith as we ought, then we would inevitably look upon others with compassion that deeply identifies with weakness. We may begin to come alongside another not as a critic of their lack of progress, but as a supporter and encourager of their growth. Instead of only noticing the lack of change, we may begin to discern the movements and evidences of grace from God, who alone has the power to inflame a heart of worship.  There may still be a lament or a sadness over what is still lacking in ourselves and others, but it will likely be a lament of faith that trusts God to complete what He started.  


If we are failing to give grace, we are likely not apprehending our desperate need of grace for ourselves. We are more sinful than we understand. Yet, the wonder of the gospel reveals a Savior and Redeemer who gives grace!  Grace- unearned, unfathomable, never-running-out grace which covers all of our sin and grants us Christ’s very righteousness! Apprehending the enormity and the beauty of the grace of God toward sinners warms our hearts and gives way to our own rise of faith, obedience and worship. And this will, in turn, allow us to extend this grace to others in their process of change.

Elijah of old understood this struggle. Romans 11 :2-6 says that when Elijah “appealed to God against Israel, he said, ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.’ What is God’s reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” Elijah was looking at the people of Israel with frustration over the outcome of faith in their lives. But God answers by saying that he has chosen his people by grace, and that grace has enabled them to not bow the knee to Baal in idolatry. Grace is bearing the fruit of faith, obedience and worship. Grace is producing worshippers. Elijah needed to trust in God for His work that He alone could produce in the lives of His people. Trust may cause our frustration to give way to praise. 

Trusting God and Our Call to Love

Trusting God and His grace does not negate our responsibility and privilege to love our neighbor with grace and truth. We may still need to speak the hard truth, but speaking truth with faith in God may alter our motives to that of authentic, others-focused love for the benefit and blessing of our neighbor, expressed in compassionate care and sympathetic graciousness instead of impatient judgment.  

Where is your trust?

Like a crockpot, grace powered sanctification slowly but very effectively transforms and permeates to our core, making tender and warming our hearts by mercy. It produces over time  a passionate zeal to become more like our Savior, who is full of grace and truth (John 1:14).  Grace does not leave us cold on the inside, or cold toward others.  Grace is powerful and effective.  Where are you placing your trust?

Post-Merriment Moodiness and the Gospel

The Christmas tree is a fire hazard now.  The wrapping paper and boxes are strewn about.  What remains of the special Christmas morning breakfast is littered throughout the kitchen.  The kids are still half-dazed and crazed from the morning merriment.  Dad is relaxing with his iPad, catching up on the news.  And mom….well, this mom, looks around in dread.  It happens to some degree every year for me.  I begin a slow, but sure descent into resentfulness.  I begin to think about what it will mean to clean up this disaster called Christmas.  If I don’t start now, it will only get worse.  And so I begin.  I start with the paper and boxes.  I ask the kids to help.  Thankfully, they help a little.  I move over to the kitchen and begin to clean up what remains of sticky cinnamon rolls and egg nog.  I look over at my happy family and still the gratefulness of the morning is keeping resentfulness at bay.

But then a few days later, the time comes to do the major clean up.  I begin to de-Christmas my home.  I dread this multi-hour event.  I try to get the kids to help out.  And this time, I am met with resistance.  My descent begins.  With each passing hour, it builds.  The voices from my heart begin to speak to myself their complaints.  Why do I bother decorating?  Christmas is too much work for moms!  We spin our wheels and run ourselves ragged to make the day special for everyone, and then we have all the work of clean up too on the tail end!  Shopping, decorating, stringing lights, baking, cooking, gingerbread house making, wrapping, taping, more shopping, more cooking, cleaning, bow making, more wrapping, deal finding, hanging and filling stockings, shipping, and now cleaning too!  Bah humbug!!  The resentfulness is thick now!  I am afraid that I may even launch on my family into a string of guilt-inducing, manipulative comments that I will later regret.  I have done it before.  What feels like a blessed release of anger erodes into guilt and shame.  And this year, I do not want to go there!  What is my resentful heart to do?

I find a quiet hiding place in my home, and fall into a posture of prayer.  I want to cry.  I am exhausted and I am angry.  But I am also fighting my desire to allow my heart to spill out on my family, whom I deeply love.  I know that I need to apply the gospel, but where do I start?  I counsel others in gospel application, but applying the gospel to myself is always a foggier road to travel.  Think, Keri, think!  Start with your anger.  What is underneath it?  Why are you really upset?  Hmmm.  Fog begins to clear as I make my way into the ugliness of my heart.  I am angry because I have to do the work while my family enjoys all the benefits and it is just not fair!  I don’t want to do all of this work alone!  I want to sit around and be free to enjoy the benefits of Christmas too!  What is underneath all of this mess?  Self-righteousness to be sure!  Idolatrous desires for comfort are present as well.  I want to be served, rather than serve.  Lots of ugliness is surfacing now, and I am slowly humbled by my sin.  My anger is subsiding as  I see my own sin.  But gospel application does not end with the sight of our sin.  We also have a Savior.  I want to apply the gospel to myself in a way that causes true repentance and joy.  I want to love Christ more as a result of this little transaction with Him on this December morning. 

Gospel application is not easy.  Again, I must think hard to clear the haze.  How do I apply the gospel to a heart that is mad that I have done all of the work, while my family is free to enjoy all of the benefits.  How does Christ enter into this picture?  Light floods in in an almost immediate and blinding way.  Work and freedom are the themes of my grumbling heart.  Work and freedom are inherent themes within the gospel.  My Jesus did all of the work too so that I could freely enjoy all of the benefits!  I enjoy all of the free-grace benefits of the grueling, wrath-bearing work that He alone accomplished at the cross.  He did not ask me to share in the crushing weight and work of bearing my sin.  No, He did it all!  Because of Him, I get to cease from my work.  I am free to simply enjoy the benefits of all that He accomplished.  And that is NOT FAIR!  The great exchange of His work for my freedom is the epitome of injustice!  I now don’t want fair in my situation; I want grace!  And it is grace that I have received…then, at the great exchange, and now.  And I am humbled!  I am thankful!  I am freshly astounded at the lavish beauty of Christ’s work on my behalf!  I thank God for his grace towards me and I want to extend that same grace to my family!  I want to be like my Jesus who willingly served me!  I want to serve in joy because I understand that the ultimate injustice took place 2000 years for my most ultimate freedom and joy. 

My heart is changed by gospel grace.  I can get up now and finish the clean up with a new heart.  I can serve my family with a grateful heart.  My heart has moved from the heat of anger to the warmth of grace, and it has motivated me to love and serve from joy.  Ironically and yet beautifully, my husband finds me later after noticing all of my work.  He says, “I wish you would have told me you were cleaning.  I would have loved to help you.”  I can authentically smile back and enjoy the rest of the day with my family because… "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4

My Plea to a Friend Considering Divorce

This is an actual letter sent to a friend considering divorce because she had found "someone who makes her truly happy."

Dear Friend,

I know that I am the last person that you probably want to hear from right now, and you may also think that I have no business speaking into your life. Nevertheless, I feel very compelled to give you a perspective to think about.

I know a little bit about what is going on in your life right now. I know you want a divorce. You feel like you are not, and never have been, happy in your relationship with your husband. You feel as though you made a mistake when you married him because you struggled with many doubts about how you felt about him when you married him. And those doubts have lingered through your marriage. You want to be in love. You want to be happy and fulfilled. You are making changes to that end --starting with your most significant relationship. Am I right so far?

My friend, you are not alone in these desires. We were created to desire contentment and fulfillment. You would not be human if you did not have these desires. Everything that we do in life is ultimately in pursuit of our joy. These pursuits are the result of being stamped with God's image. We were also created with deep longings to love and be loved. Everyone who breathes shares these God-given longings to experience love that transcends the ordinary. It is at the core of who we are. God designed us to search for that which is truly deep, significantly meaningful, and all-satisfying to our souls. Our hearts are meant to search for it until we find it.

Our problem is that we look to the wrong things in our quest. We do exactly what Romans 1 said we would do. We "worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator." Our good God gives us good things in life for our pleasure like family, children. spouses, friendships, jobs, homes, health, clothing, food. These are intended to bring some measure of pleasure and blessing to our lives. Yet in our idolatry we look to these good things as ultimate things in our pursuit of transcendent joy. We exchange the Creator for His finite gifts as though they have the ability within them to give us what we are after. 

All that we have here, in this life, is broken. We are broken people in a broken world. Sin has touched and tarnished everything. Life in a broken world was described well in The Chronicles of Narnia as "always winter, but never Christmas." Brokenness pervades and yet we keep searching and hoping in the broken things for joy.

My friend, my heart breaks for you because you are at that inevitable place in life where our idealism and dreams come crashing down under the weight of the realities of life in this fallen world. Many make tragic decisions during this season. I know that you think that your story is uniquely different, but it is not. We all face life with high expectations. We all discover the realities of brokenness eventually. The answer is not to move on to more brokenness. This new relationship will only provide temporary happiness. Eventually the brokenness will show up. Please do not put your hope in this new relationship, but rather allow God to redeem and make beautiful the marriage that He gave you.  

The sacrifice of Christ offers redemption for our brokenness and abiding satisfaction for our souls. The gospel tells us that we are more sinful, flawed and broken than we ever dared believe, yet offers us more love and acceptance from our Savior than we ever dared hope. We were fashioned by God with longings that could only be satisfied by what He gives. Only the infinite God can satisfy us with the love and acceptance and sense of belonging that we are really after. Augustine said, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee." 

My friend, you profess faith in Christ. May I ask how your faith is factoring into your decisions? Have you engaged with God about your choices? Have you brought Him into these decisions? God speaks clearly in His Word regarding the binding covenant of marriage and His hatred of divorce. Marriage is intended to reflect the covenant that God made and plans to keep forever with His bride, the Church. He never leaves. We bring glory to Him when we don't leave either. 

He warns us, motivated by His compassion and care for our souls, to avoid sin because He knows that it leads to destruction, heartache and pain. Jude also warns us not to presume upon His grace by using it as a license to sin. When we make deliberate choices to walk against what His Word says, we are walking in stubborn rebellion against Him. Do you care about this? The answer to this question may determine the state of your soul before Him. With a profession of faith comes the call of the gospel upon your life to walk in a manner worthy of that gospel. 

I would not be a friend if I did not tell you the truth. I hope that you understand that this letter is motivated by love for you, for your children and for your husband. I do not want to see the sad consequences play out in all of your lives. You may be thinking that the consequences of these choices will be insignificant. This is simply not true. We have seen the devastating effects in too many people's lives. And the Word of God bears this out in Galatians 6:7-9 which says, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will form the Spirit real eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

I pray that you will consider some of these things that I have shared as you are making such significant, life-altering decisions. 

By His grace, for His glory, and for your true joy,
Keri

One of my posts rewritten more creatively by Cristi Miller

My friend, Cristi, is an incredibly gifted writer!!  She rewrote something that I had written.  Her rendition is beautiful!!


"Help for the Hills" by Cristi Miller (and me)


As I set out for my morning run
I have confidence in my ability to complete the course set before me.
The steps quickly turn into miles
And I am amazed at how easily and steadily I move along.
I take in the beauty along the way and breath deep.
This isn’t so bad.  I can do this.


Gradually the path begins to change.
The hard, smooth ground that was giving spring to my steps
Crumbles and becomes soft as sand beneath my feet
Draining me more and more of energy each time we connect.
The path narrows and snakes it’s way through the woods.
The earth begins to rise up beneath me with each step I take
And I gasp when I catch a glimpse of the hill now looming in front of me.


I dig deep for strength
And think of a friend who is climbing a ‘hill’ of her own in life.
How often she whishes she could walk, sit down
Stop climbing, give up.
How can I quit after I have been encouraging her not to?
Now, she spurs me on.
I run with her in mind.
Pray for her.
“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”


I want to turn around and run-
Run back to the easy, familiar road I had just traveled
But fixing my eyes ahead, I continue.
Tree roots spider web across my way
And large rocks freckle the dirt.
I trip and stumble often
Loosing my footing as I trudge along,
Barely moving up the ever-increasing incline.
Will I ever reach the top?


I am reminded of yet another runner, another hill.
Where a beaten, bloodied, mocked, weary man
Carrying a load on His back no one else could bare,
Climbed a hill.
A hill that did not promise relief at its summit
But demanded His very life.


With each agonizing step He took
The weight of His burden increased
Digging deeper into His already raw back.
Blood, as sweat, fell staining the ground.
Every move He made required the greatest effort.
Each step brought Him closer to death.
“Yet not my will, but Yours be done,” was the cry of his heart
As he strained to reach the top,
To receive His reward
And hear the voice of His Father welcoming Him,
“Well done, good and faithful servant.”
He endured.


In the end He gained the ultimate victory-
A victory He now shares with me.
I gain a new perspective on this ‘hill’
And others I will encounter on my run.
Fight returns to my steps and I inch forward.
One foot in front of the other.
One step at a time.


He knows and He is running with me.
Even today, even now, as I climb this hill.
I can because Jesus already has.
His Spirit breathes wind at my back
And I ascend.


(July 8, 20011)

Blindness, Sight, and My Friend Shawn

I was reading this morning about the man born blind from the story in John 9.  Ironically, Jesus had just had a lengthy conversation in John 8 with a bunch of Jews in which he was basically saying to them, “You are blind!”  They were unwilling to believe the  truth that He was from God, and speaking for God.  He actually says to them, “Why do you not understand what I say?  It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.”  The self-sufficiency of the Jews made them blind to their true condition of weakness and neediness!  They could not bear the thought that they need something or someone outside of themselves to make them right with God.

And then Jesus “just happens to pass by” a man born blind from birth (John 9:1).  I thought about the experience of a blind person. Blind people are handicapped.  They are weaker, in one sense (excuse the pun).  They must be dependent on people, walking sticks, seeing eye-dogs, Braille and other things to navigate in a world where most navigate effortlessly.  They are, at least to some degree, limited. They are not as self-sufficient as most. 

Aren’t we all “blind”?  In a spiritual sense, we are all these things that the blind man was.  We are handicapped spiritually.  We are weak.  We don’t have all that we need inside of ourselves to be right with God.  We are dependent.  We need Christ!  We need help outside of ourselves. We are not self-sufficient!  Blindness, in this context, is the ability to ascertain the truth about ourselves and our desperate need for Christ!  This blind man was in a better position than the Jews were to understand the true reality about himself.  He lived with an outward, physical manifestation of an inward reality that would make him more keenly aware of his needs.  So, who was the truly handicapped?  The Jews or the blind man?

I saw my friend, Shawn, last night in the hospital.  Shawn had a tumor the size of a football removed from his back.  The procedure caused him to lose the ability to walk and maintian use of some of his normal bodily functions. He is coming to terms with his new normal, which includes some similarities to the blind man of John 9.  Shawn is experiencing weakness, dependence, and a limit to his abilities.  There is expected frustration and sorrow over the losses that resulted from his cancer.  This man who wants to be a rock for his family to depend on is realizing that he may need to depend on them.  How hard this must be! He will need to depend on special cars, crutches and wheel chairs during this time.  As he watches people walk effortlessly across a hall, he will have to navigate much differently, and with more effort. God will be faithful to Shawn as he always has been. But what a hard road he is on!  

Shawn, like the blind man, has an outward, physical representation of an inward reality that we all share!  We are all broken. We are all needy.  We are all limited. We are all dependent. How will Shawn’s situation be used in his life to sharpen his understanding of these truths?  We all need to understand just how much we continue to need Jesus!  We don’t have what we need in ourselves.  How many of us really believe this?  The self-sufficient Jews refused to believe, and the blind man readily believed. Why was belief easy for him? When questioned about Jesus, the blind man simply and clearly told them the truth.  “One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  The blind man was amazed at their lack of logic and even says, “Why, this is an amazing thing!  You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes…If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  In the face of miracles, and concise logic, the Jews refused to believe because they could not bear to hear the truth about themselves (John 8:43). Again, their self-sufficiency was their greatest obstacle. 

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into the world, and those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”  Strange! Apparent weakness became the path to the greatest strength!  He says later to the Phaisees, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.  Remember, blindness in this context is the ability to own our weakness and need of Christ.  Weakness is the beginning of receiving the true strength of Christ.  Having nothing puts you into position to receive everything!  Understanding our desperate needs puts us in the place of receiving the lavish benefits of grace and mercy.  Getting Jesus because we understand just how much we need Jesus sets us free from guilt.  If you think you “see” and have no sense of your desperate need of Christ, then your guilt will remain. You are the truly blind!

Though he may not feel it yet, Shawn seems to be in the best of all positions, as a receiver of grace. His outward weakness is representative of the truest reality of all of us!  We need grace to make it!  We need Christ’s strength to navigate through life.  Shawn will more acutely understand these things than the rest of us who may tend to take things for granted, like walking! So, who is more “handicapped”?  Shawn or me?

I love the response of Christ when asked if it was sin that led to the man’s blindness.  He said, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”  What works will God display through Shawn Moore?  How will Shawn’s unique life and calling glorify God through seeming weakness?  When we are weak, He is strong!  How will the strength of Christ shine through Shawn?  How will you work the works of God as long as you are in the world?  Are you weak and needy and lacking confidence in your limited abilities?  Then you are in a great position to be a receiver of the lavish grace and power of Christ’s strength!  Oh, how desperately we need Him!

Help for the Hills

I ran today! I haven’t run in a long time. I knew I had to pace myself or I would never finish the few miles that I set out to run. As I started out, I thought, “This isn’t so bad. I can do this.” So, I trudged along at my snail’s pace fairly confident that I would finish my course. That is, until I came to the dreaded hill!

Hills are killers! Hills hurt. Hills require perseverance. Hills require determination. Only naïve novices or seasoned runners would try to run or sprint up a hill. Hills require a steady, even, often slower pace. The steeper the hill, the more focus is required. About 30 seconds into my hill, I was tempted to start walking. And then, I thought of my friend. I have been talking with a friend all week who is climbing up her own proverbial, very steep, spiritual hill in her faith. I have been trying to encourage and motivate her to keep moving forward on her hill of faith. She has been discouraged. She is weary. She is tired. She needs help. She feels like just stopping at times. She wants the hill to get easier. She wants to know when the road underneath her will flatten, making her course a little easier. I feel for her. I want to help her. And so, as I ran up my hill this morning, I prayed for her to make it up hers. As I was tempted to walk, I thought of her temptations, and prayed for strength for my friend. I did not quit, because I am calling her not to quit. I thought about the words, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” I have been encouraging her to believe these words, and I made myself believe them this morning as I made it up my hill during my run.

Life really does feel like a steep run uphill at times, doesn’t it? Life gets hard. Faith can be even harder. It is, at times, difficult to believe all that God says. It’s hard to apply His promises to our life. It’s hard to accept as true all that the Bible tells us about who we are, who He is, and what He is up to in difficult circumstances. At times, it is hard to trust that He is good. His ways are sometimes hard to understand. This confusion makes faith a strenuous effort! We get weary of our particular course. We may even feel like giving up. As I was running up the hill this morning, I thought of some of the things that help us make it up our hills in life.

When running up a hill, it sure is nice to have the wind on your back, isn’t it? It gives that little push in the right direction. The wind energizes our own efforts, making us feel more confident, more able to keep moving forward. The Holy Spirit has been likened to the wind. He is that supernatural power that gives us what we need to keep moving forward. Knowing that we have resurrection power through the Holy Spirit living within us gives us the encouragement to believe that we really can do all things through Him who gives us strength!

Then I thought of the One who would be at the finish line to welcome all of His runners at the end of our own pre-determined courses. God our Father will be there to embrace us as we finish our races. He will welcome us. He will embrace us and tell us things like, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” It will be sweet relief to finish the course, to breathe out that last sigh, the sigh of the end of strained effort when all of our striving will be over. 

But, there is more. There is Another who runs with us in our races. Jesus runs with us!  He runs with us not as One who does not understand what the uphill climb feels like, but as One who has endured the worst of all hills with endurance. He willingly chose to be like us with all of our weaknesses. He wore our humanity. He knows exactly what it feels like to run uphill in this life. He knew that He had the steepest of all hills to climb at the cross! He knew what it meant for Him, and how hard it would be to endure. In the Garden, with the hill of Golgotha up ahead on his course, he strained for faith to the point of sweating drops of blood. He asked His Father if there was any other way. Could he save God’s people without this Hill? Was there any way around this Hill. And yet, in faith, he said, “Not my will, but Your’s be done.” And he began the ruthless ascent up the harsh Hill to Calvary.


His ultimate endurance at Calvary gives us the strength to endure! His ultimate victory on the cross gives us the ability to be more than conquerors as well. And this Jesus runs with us. He knows the strain that we feel on our hills. He knows that it is hard to keep moving forward. And this is the One who runs with us. Because he endured victoriously, we also will endure victoriously. He will complete what he started in us. He made us runners for Him, and He will give us all that we need to finish our courses. But we need to keep moving forward in faith.


We must face the right direction, as we look towards the goal of finishing the course, knowing that our Father waits for us at the finish line.  We need to remember that we have Someone running with us who sympathizes with the toughness of the course, and we can take courage as we realize that we have a Helper giving us supernatural power to keep moving forward. With those thoughts, “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” And we will sit with him too at the end of our race!