judgment

God’s righteous judgment doesn’t necessarily mean something bad.

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?

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
Romans 2:1-11

We are all capable of being hypocrites if we are not centered on Christ.

I’m not sure about you but Romans 2:1 is very scary to me.  So how do we remain Christ-centered?  Let’s look at a few other verses to help us find our answer:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 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 faith God has distributed to each of you. 
Romans 12:2-3

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 
Philippians 4:8

We must learn to control our thinking. Much of our battle is within our own head. Our thought life can truly make or break us. Whatever we feed will grow.  If we feed negative thoughts, that is what is going to grow and show in our lives. Conversely, if we are able to refocus our thoughts on what is pure, loveley, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, we can control our minds and be victorious.

The key to escaping God’s wrath…

The key to escaping God’s wrath is found in Romans 2:4.  It is REPENTANCE. Our society has done a good job of making this word ugly. But do you know the definition of repentance?  It is simply to change your mind and turn from sin.  Do you see how it links with our thoughts? When we stop fighting God and simply allow our hearts and minds to turn TOWARD HIM, we are turning FROM sin.  We should get before Him and confess our sins.

Confession is good for our souls.

It cleanses us and takes away the dirt associated with sin. Confession is humbling. And when we ask God for forgiveness, we need to know that we are forgiven.  We are not only forgiven but God forgets our sins that we confess.  So next week if we confess the same sin, God is asking “What sin?” because He forgot!!

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. 
Jeremiah 31:34

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:12

God is not against us. He has made a way for us that is so easy if we will only turn our hearts toward Him. In Romans 2:5, we see that it is our stubbornness and unrepentant heart that will one day bring God’s wrath.  So if we let go of the stubbornness (which is also pride) and have a repentant heart, we do not need to fear God’s wrath. Verse 7 shows us that if we are persistent in doing good, we will have eternal life.  When we get before God in prayer, we need to ask Him to not let our hearts be hardened.

Psalm 51 is a good Psalm to pray.  I won’t cite the entire Psalm in this post but take a few minutes to read this Psalm and a few more minutes to pray through this Psalm.

Prayer is vital to staying right with God.

We should approach prayer as if we’re coming before a dear friend. Yes, we should honor and respect God but He wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him as well. He wants us to approach Him boldly with confidence and pour out our hearts.

The more time we spend in His presence, the less time we have for our minds to wander.

The more time we spend in His presence, the more Christ-centered we will be.

Stay in the Light and the Love Always,

Eva