Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "People Like Him" for Sunday, 26 October 2014 - Read Matthew 7:1-5

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "People Like Him" for Sunday, 26 October 2014 - Read Matthew 7: A Simple Guide for Behavior
1-5 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
There is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.(Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NIV))
For years I worked for a prison ministry, training Christians to share God’s love with inmates. I also spoke to secular groups about problems that prisoners face.
During those years, a man was arrested in my hometown and convicted of grisly crimes, including the murders of 15 young men. For months the sensational story with its shocking details made headlines. People often approached me after my presentations, mentioned this man, and said, “You don’t have anything to do with people like him, do you?”Their tone implied that, while sharing God’s love with some prisoners might be acceptable, there was a degree of evil beyond which even God should not intervene. I was saddened that it was not only at secular gatherings that I encountered this attitude; sometimes I heard it in churches too.
Too often we are quick to rank sins, forgetting that everyone sins and that all sin is abhorrent to God. We seem unable — or, worse, unwilling — to believe that the blood of Christ can cleanse any repentant person from any sin. As forgiven people, we should be eager to share God’s grace with everyone.
Read more from the author.
"God's Redemptive Love"
It is human nature, I guess, to want to feel like we're better than others.  Something in us compares ourselves not with our Savior, whose standard of perfection we can't even approach, but with those we consider to be worse than we are.  How nice it is to feel superior!  Jesus was well aware of this tendency and specifically warned us against it, as quoted in Matthew's gospel in today's reading.
As I mentioned in my meditation, I worked for many years in prison ministry, and one of the greatest joys in retirement is being a volunteer facilitator for a weekly Bible study at a medium security men's facility.  Ironically, even within many prisons there is a de facto hierarchy among the prisoners based on the crime each has committed.  "Sure, I broke the law, but I'm nowhere near as bad as that guy!" is occasionally their attitude, though it seems to be less prevalent in those who know Christ.  It is for good reason that the chaplains tell volunteers not to ask the men why they are incarcerated.  Besides being rude, it may tempt us to "rank" them in some fashion.
And really, being judgmental is nothing new.  Thousands of years ago, God instructed Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh of the impending doom they faced because of their sinfulness.  What was Jonah's response?  He ran away.  Now we could understand it if Jonah fled because he feared the people and wanted to avoid confronting them with their sin. They might  hurt him!  Who among us hasn't at one time or another avoided speaking up when we should have done so, due to fear—real or imagined? Or perhaps if Jonah, like Moses, felt inadequate to the task he might have wanted to escape God's assignment.  But that wasn't the issue.  His reason?  “…I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God…a God who relents from sending calamity.” (Jonah 4:2 NIV)  Like some today who would rather violent criminals be left in their sin than be healed by Christ, Jonah wanted no part of God's redemptive plan for the people of Nineveh.  Ouch!
In contrast, hear the beautiful words written by Gloria Gaither. The song is titled I Then Shall Live and sung to the tune Finlandia, the melody used for the beloved hymn Be Still My Soul. Go ahead, sing it out!  Her first verse reads:

I then shall live as one who’s been forgiven;

I’ll walk with joy to know my debts are paid.

I know my name is clear before my Father;

I am His child, and I am not afraid.

So greatly pardoned, I’ll forgive my brother,

The law of love I gladly will obey.*

What a great statement of God's sacrificial love for us—that  we on't look to others hoping we can find fault that will make us look good by comparison, but that we understand, as much as humanly possible, the horror of our own sin and the cost Jesus paid to allow us to be reconciled with the Father.  When that realization hits home, I think we'll find that we will run towards opportunities to share the redemptive love of God, not run the other way.(Lisa Stackpole)
*Text © 1981 Gaither Music Company. Music © Breitkopf & Hartel (Outside U.S. only). All rights reserved.
The Author: Lisa Stackpole (Wisconsin)
Thought for the Day: Christ can forgive any sin.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to forgive, even as you have forgiven us. Amen.
Prayer focus: Prison ministries
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