Romans 2:1-4: “You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in His justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that His kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”

According to Paul, concerning sin we can be harder than God on both on ourselves and on others. As fallen humans, who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, it would appear that we would extend more mercy toward others’ transgressions, but that isn’t always the case. Since we have a tendency to be more critical toward others’ sin than our own, it can cause us to begin to struggle in our own walk of faith and grace.

A guilty conscious can cause recipients of grace to forget just how God has found us, and where He has brought us from. A guilty conscience can also cause us to judge people who are in sin and demand swifter justice, and yet turn right around and beg God to extend His mercy and grace to cover our own shortcomings and failures. There is a perfect example in John 8 of how a guilty conscience can cause people to be very judgmental and condemning of others—even after they’ve committed the same sin and/or received forgiveness themselves.

While Jesus was teaching early one Sabbath morning, some men brought a woman to Him that was caught in the act of adultery. These men were ready to try her case, convict her of sin, and condemn her to death. But then Jesus spoke up. He reminded them of something that they had not taken into account: they also had a sin issue in their own hearts. Once Jesus reminded them of their past, the men saw the error of their ways and dropped their rocks. Once they were gone, Jesus told the woman that He didn’t condemn her either. Then He said to the woman, “Go and sin no more.” Don’t you find it interesting that the guilty men wanted to stone her, but the GUILTLESS Man forgave her and released her without punishment?

Through the teaching of Paul and the love that is demonstrated through Christ, we can begin to see that God is LONGSUFFERING when it comes to sin. He doesn’t “fly off of the handle” like people do when they find out that others have sin in their lives. When you think about the difference between man’s point-of-view toward sin versus God’s point-of-view toward sin, could it be that we also know—through experience—what it is to know God’s goodness . . . and to want others to taste of it as well? When we mix God’s goodness with our zeal and judgmental attitude (as it pertains to pointing out peoples’ faults, failures, and sin), we will fall short of God’s grace every time.

God is longsuffering—it’s not that He simply winks at or permits sin. Instead, He allows humans the opportunity to repent of the error of their ways before it’s too late. It’s the goodness of God that produces true Biblical repentance and not man’s hellfire and brimstone judgments. If Jesus didn’t condemn sin in people’s lives, then how can we—as His ambassadors—do so? Hopefully, we can clearly see the heart of God and change the way we go about confronting sin in other people’s lives.

Isaiah 6:1-7: “It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!’ Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, ‘It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, ‘See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.’”

In this setting, Isaiah is mourning over the death of King Uzziah. (We mourn over the sin in our life that produces death.) In the same year that the king died, Isaiah saw the beauty and power of the Lord. It was while he was mourning over a death that God revealed to him His beauty and majesty. This caused Isaiah to realize that he was a sinner, a man that was undone and who has unclean lips, and is living among a people of unclean lips. You see, it was the goodness of God coupled with the brokenness of loss that brought Isaiah to a place of repentance. The Angel touched the lips of Isaiah and purged him of his sins. As a result of this encounter with God’s goodness, Isaiah affirmatively answered the calling of God to become a prophet and to speak to the nation of Israel for the Lord. An amazing story isn’t it? Let’s allow the beauty and the power of the Lord to shine through our hearts to others and watch as the conviction power of God turns hard hearts into hearts of flesh.  —submitted by Asa Dockery, US