Romans 1-3

Basically I was reminded today that it is so hard to not be judgmental. I hate judgment and legalism in general, and then I find myself judging the judgmental which is still judging! Argh! For example, One thing that I judge is that most people I find who harp on people for cussing have no problem calling someone stupid which I find to be true cussing more than any other vulgar words people may use. So while I am annoyed with people who hate cussing and yet openly call people stupid, I am usually thinking those people are stupid! It is really hard to not catch yourself being judgmental. In fact, if you can't relate to this passage at all, I'm probably going to go ahead and be judgmental again because you are probably lying and I can't stand lying. You see? There I go again. I hope you can understand my humor and good natured sarcasm. Nevertheless, replacing judgment with love is a challenge we all must continue to grow in and the following passage is very convicting. I think it is a lot more helpful if you imagine that the chapter break didn't exist here because otherwise the end of Romans 1 is just a list of sins and you are thinking, "Yeah! Right on! Judge those jerks!" when Paul actually went on to say NOT to judge them because all of our sins are surely listed in that paragraph somewhere.

Romans 1:29-2:4 " ²⁹They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. ³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

¹ You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. ² Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³ So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴ Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

I would like to take this time to openly confess my sin and struggles. Not all of them because that is not always appropriate, but a few that this passage deals with in regards to judging. My biggest judging problem is that I can't stand judgmental people. I've heard this from many of my Christian siblings and find it completely humorous and ironic. For instance I can't stand fat people who can't stand smokers. Don't they know that a fairly equal amount of people die of heart disease and lung cancer? How stupid! And there I go judging again which is a lot more dangerous than overeating or smoking. From this passage it looks like judging leads to a nice visit with God's wrath (so thankful for God's grace!). Another thing I can't stand is laziness. Why can't everyone be as productive as me? Did I just spend 2 hours of my day on Facebook? Wow! There I go judging again and then God reminds me that the only reason I have a good work habit is because of His grace and not at all because of me. I am pretty sure there have been days lately that God has taken away my normal desire to work hard to show me,"See, I gave you this gift and I can take it away to teach you not to judge others who maybe have a different gift."