Justification and Judgment

Yesterday, I had something of an "Ah-ha" moment.  For those of you who don't know what those are, they are moments when you have an instance of revelation, which often results in one saying, "Ah-ha!", and some problem or mystery of the universe becomes clear. 

I am a big fan of these moments, and although I can't really say that this moment will be terribly groundbreaking, or revolutionary for everyone, I thought it was pretty fascinating, so I figured I would share it. 

It all began as I was walking home from work.  I came up to the intersection at Race St. and 33rd, and I was about to cross when I heard a car come up behind me, so I paused to let them go. That was then followed by that awkward, "You go" "No you go!" kind of situation, because every time I took a step, this person revved their engine a little bit (albeit, it was most likely unknowingly), and I would stop.  I would rather not be on the receiving end of vehicular homicide.  When I finally crossed, I looked back at the person who was driving behind me, and they naturally had that pissed-off look on their face, and probably cursing me under their breath. I thought to myself, "Dang, that guy totally judged me without knowing any of the facts of why I behaved the way I did.  And that's when it hit me.  He judged me, without first trying to justify me.

There are two things that I gleaned from this "Ah-ha" moment, the first relating to the obvious way in which we should judge.  More often then not, I find myself casting judgment on others without knowing any of the facts.  I think it is safe to assume that I would have behaved similarly to the man driving that SUV, and assumed that the person crossing the street was just jerking me around out of spite.  I will admit, my disposition changes drastically when I am behind the wheel of a car.  It's quite awful, and I am trying to correct it, but this still presents an interesting take on how to judge righteously.  We all know that we cannot read people's hearts, or what they are thinking, so how then can we judge? 

It occurred to me that if we first try to justify (and I don't mean that in a spiritual sense, FYI) those around us, we will more often than not, judge rightly.  For instance, if that guy driving took the time to look at things from my point of view, he would hopefully have realized that I just didn't want to get hit by his large car, and that would have prevented him from getting angry.  Hopefully.  Likewise, if we take the time to first justify the actions of those around us, then I think we will find that a lot of times people will have decent reasons for doing some of the things we might think are strange. 

The second thing I gleaned from this, which I found to be the more profound thing, was the way in which God has justified us, before committing us to judgment.  What is even more amazing, is that God didn't have to.  While we don't know everything, God does.  He could easily judge us at any time, and have the right to do so, but he doesn't.  He patiently justifies us, and gives us the ability to avoid judgment.  God's justification also surpasses our own.  Where we have to seek out the means of declaring someone to be "right", God provides us with righteousness when we had none.  We can only follow what the facts show us, but God can supersede the fact of our sinfulness, and declare us good in his sight. 

It is often these small parallels between things in daily life, and God's character that really blow my mind because they just go to show much God has authored Himself into all of His creation.