The judge and the hero.

judge and hero
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Let’s talk about the judge and the hero. This is sort of a heart cry for me today.

I know this isn’t literally doable, but think what it would be like to write down every thought you’ve ever had and giving it to someone who would read every word.

Every single word.

And after reading it, they would judge you.

Speaking for me. Bruh. That’s downright scary. It doesn’t matter if they have any power over you because of their knowledge. Just them knowing is terrifying enough.

Believers and non-believers both, here’s the truth. God is the judge. He sees our list.

We are guilty, oh yes we are. But then our hero comes.

When our hero – Jesus – comes, and we come fully to grips with our sin, then we can come to fully treasure Him. Because of His sacrifice, God looks at us and sees the sinless life of Jesus. He doesn’t see the darkness of our hearts, but sees purity instead.

This, of course, is not some new revelation. It’s Theology 101. This is a bedrock of our faith. The problem is that for a whole host of reasons we struggle to internalize this and make it a reality in our lives. If all this is too simplistic for you, you can safely navigate away from this blog. But I got more to say.

As long as we live on earth, that new and pure spirit we received when we believed is going to do bloody, messy battle with our old sin nature.

So I want you to struggle right along with me today. Buckle up.

This all comes from a verse that fundamentally gripped me earlier today. I can’t shake it. Here ya go:

Jeremiah 17:10: I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. (New International Version)

And from the New Living Translation – you know, for variety:

I the Lord look into the heart, and test the mind. I give to each man what he should have because of his ways and because of the fruit that comes from his works.

That circles us back around to the idea of our judge and our hero … one in the same, actually. How do you balance this?

  • Yes, I’m guilty. Yes, I am forgiven.
  • Yes, You judge me. Yes, You cleanse me.
  • Yes, I deserve Your wrath. Yes, Jesus takes the full force of it.

Have mercy. Mercy.

This stirs up a lot of questions. I think it’s appropriate to ask “Lord, is there anything in my life right now that would keep me from hearing from You? Because I don’t want to block or hinder You … I need to receive.”

This scripture needs to be teased out, because it’s critical to our understanding.

  • I the Lord search the heart and examine the mindWell, yeah. He’s God. And it’s not like He has too much going on to not be aware of everything in your head and heart.
  • To reward each person according to their conduct … Apparently what we do and how we act does have some bearing on how our lives go.
  • According to what their deeds deserve. So, in other words, we get what’s coming to us, and what that is is totally up to God.

How does that make you feel? Burdened? Heavy? Fearful? Shame? How does that make you feel about Jesus? Because – and this is huge – He takes what you deserve. That’s the hero part.

Maybe you’re feeling something new or unexpected as that sinks in.

There are several things to be thankful for here:

  1. The Creator of the universe knows you.
  2. He is concerned about your heart.
  3. He has provided relief in Christ.

Jeremiah was called the “weeping prophet.” His heart ached for his people. His book is all about God’s judgment on Judah for its runaway, awful idolatry. They were putting their own motives and desires ahead of those for God. (Sounds kinda familiar … even in the church.)

It was a timely message then, and a timely message now.

God knew their hearts. He knows ours. Yours. Mine.

My convoluted mind takes me in all sorts of directions. I can imagine myself sitting in the presence of God, trying to write out all my thoughts. I can imagine Him correcting me when I leave one out.

I’m not sure how that makes me feel. I’d like for it to feel cleansing.

Think about emptying yourself before God. It’d be like a complete moral inventory. This might be a good time to take a deep breath and ask Him for that feeling of being cleansed.

Don’t choke on this, but the wrath God feels toward the sin in your heart – your inventory – is the same it was when Jeremiah wrote this 600 years before Christ.

Since we’ve dug this deep, let’s dig some more. This might be a real challenge, but join me anyway. I’m gonna invoke your sanctified imagination.

boxer

Imagine standing in the ring with the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Currently it’s Tyson Fury (a great Avengers name). This guy is a massive human … a walking picture of strength and power.

Here’s some scary trivia: The average professional heavy weight boxer hits at between 1,200 to 1,700 pounds per square inch, or psi. Legendary boxer Mike Tyson had a punch that was measured at 1,800 psi, or almost one ton of force per square inch. Pounds per square inch is usually measured using pressure gauges, but for boxing measurements, special machines are used. These machines calculate how hard a punch is by measuring the power of the punch at impact, calculating the size of the impact zone, and converting that to psi. So if a punch is 1,500 psi and covers four square inches of space, it is the equivalent of 6,000 pounds of impact. That’s about the weight of three black rhinoceroses.

Now, imagine getting struck in the chest by those three rhinos. You can’t imagine that. Try anyway.

Imagine that punch being the wrath of God. The judge. You receive His full fury because of your inventory of sins.

Okay. So now – imagine Jesus stepping into the ring and in front of that punch. He takes the full force of it, all of it. Imagine that. Let it be your prayer.

What do you whisper to Jesus as He stands up from that punch? As He is resurrected from a punch intended for you that should have killed Him? What do you say to Him?

What do you say to your moral inventory?

God is both the righteous Judge and merciful Father. He’s all good, and by His nature He can’t have anything to do with evil. You have evil in your heart, as do I. Think of the things you’ve thought and done and said.

He knows those completely. And yet, we’re forgiven completely.

It’s entirely appropriately to ask God to purify your thoughts and to root out the  darkness in your soul.

Here’s an optional extra credit activity. Begin to literally write out your inventory. Open your heart to God’s examination. Be thankful to Jesus for scratching out each one of them in real time as you write them. I’ve done this in the past, and it was nothing less than a little miracle.

He’s your judge, but He’s also your hero. Claim that.

Talk later!

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