Having learnt about the super-abundant amazing grace of our forgiving God, it would be most unrighteous and ungrateful of us to floutHis commandments and disobey His Word, thereby grieving the Holy Spirit! Being undeserving recipients of Jesus’ most wonderful grace, we should most gratefully seek to live godly and holy lives for Him who is our Lord and Redeemer, and be fully accountable to the great Almighty God whom we worship, who is omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (present everywhere) and omniscient (all-knowing). He knows everything because He sees everything, including each and every individual and every single thing he or she thinks or says or does. Nothing, absolutely nothing, escapes His all-seeing eyes!
‘For a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all his paths.’ Proverbs 5:21
What will God do after He sees, observes and examines every person’s path? He will judge! Yes, He will give the final verdict for He alone has the ultimate authority and the last word!
Man may want to pass judgment on this and that person, but it is God who overrules! Man’s judgment is at best partial and defective and ultimately unsound and flawed, simply because man is fallen and finite with limited knowledge and understanding of the full import of human constitution as well as an individual’s background, experiences, circumstances and motives. When we point an accusing finger at our brother or sister who merely desires to serve our Lord truthfully as He directs, we are behaving like the father of lies, the accuser who accuses us before God day and night (Revelation 12:10).
Hence, in Matthew 7:1-5, our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us not to judge lest we be judged. The apostle Paul exhorts us not to judge anything before the appointed time (1 Corinthians 4:3-5). He counsels us to wait till the Lord comes: The Lord Himself will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of human hearts. Indeed, our Lord tells us that people will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken (Matthew 12:36-37). I believe this is designed to help us cease all idle talks and gossip, flippant joking and slanderous remarks, and vicious rumours and malicious half-truths or lies. The reminders of Matthew 7:23 and Revelation 20:13-15 are most sobering. May the Lord have mercy upon each of us who so often sin against Him with our lips, tongues, throats and mouths (Romans 3:13-14). Let us read James chapter 3 and be deeply convicted by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and then repent lest we perish (Luke 13:3,5)! Let us also meditate on the following words of Scripture:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind to reward a person according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.’“ (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
“If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?” (Proverbs 24:12)
“…Then all the churches will know that I am He who searches hearts and minds and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”(Revelation 2:23)
“For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God…” (1 Peter 4:17)
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
To prepare our own personal account before Almighty God, it is important for us to note what He hates as recorded for us in Proverbs 6:16-19, so that we shall from henceforth conduct ourselves most cautiously, and heed God’s essential instructions in Zechariah 8:16-17.
The Psalmist observes metaphorically: “In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; He pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.” Psalm 75:8
May the Lord deliver us from all folly of evil and help us in our pursuit of the blessedness described in the 1st Psalm .
By Mrs Leong King Teng (YCKC Bulletin 29&30 April 2017)