Judgment as it relates to a loving God is difficult to swallow. There have times in my own faith journey when I've struggled to reconcile the love we see in Jesus with passages in the Bible that talked about God's judgment. Even when I feel okay with the idea of God judging the world, I've struggled to put words to my thoughts.
I only became more aware of this language difficulty when I started preaching through the book of Revelation. (Click here to listen to those sermons.) Revelation graphically describes God's judgment upon the world, and often times it's unsettling.
For the next several week's we're going to explore the concept of divine judgment here on the blog, and this week we'll start with this question I've used as the title of this post: How should we feel about God's judgment?
To answer this question we must first acknowledge that this subject is vastly complex. We've got to deal with the cultural differences between the world of the biblical authors and our own world. We've got to deal with the the history of how God's judgment has been used in American Christianity. We've got to deal with how God's judgment has been used in our own life of faith. All of these factors, and many more, make this topic gray.
All of this says one thing to me, and as a pastor I want you to know this too:
It's okay to be uncomfortable with God's judgment.
If you're not sure how you feel about God because of divine judgment, that's alright. Don't be afraid to admit that to yourself. I only ask that you withhold any final decisions on this topic for the time being. Don't walk away from Jesus because of this. Not just yet, at least.
Instead of walking away, stay tuned. Post any questions you might have in the comments. Email me if you'd prefer (you can use the form on my "Contact" page). Let's start this conversation, because I know the unease is out there.
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