Only God can judge me

I saw a meme on the internet yesterday.   It had a gentleman making a face that seemed incredulous.  The caption at the top was “Only God can judge me.”   At the bottom? “That should scare you!”  It’s funny in our world of “buddy Jesus” we seem to think that we should not be afraid of judgment.   We seem to think that God loves us so much that our actions don’t matter.    I think the proper way to say it should be rather: God loves us so much, that our actions DO matter.  As a parent, I understand it perfectly. I love my kids.   I also know them.  I know what they are capable of when they apply themselves.  So when I see them doing something wrong?  Something less than they are made for?  I don’t stop loving them, but I also don’t approve of what they are doing either.

In the Gospel for today, Jesus says that anyone who “breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.”  Now some people would claim that Jesus did away with the ten commandments.   Yet, Jesus goes on in the same passage to begin to say that the commandments aren’t lessened by his teaching, but even more importantly are supposed to affect even our thoughts and our hearts.  “You have heard it said” that you should not commit adultery, but, “I say to you” even looking at someone in lust is adultery.    That’s why I think we need to remember that God is mercy, indeed.  He is also the just judge.  Being a Christian isn’t a license to do whatever we want to do.  It’s Freedom to choose the good.  Sin kept us bound by making us feel that we can only do the bad thing, that is being a slave to our passions, to our feelings, our emotions.  Jesus came to give us the freedom to choose the right thing, even when it doesn’t feel good.

I’ve been watching people teach things contrary to the faith and then claiming that is Christ’s true teaching.  It’s strange to me to see that when his words aren’t really minced, in many cases he was direct and to the point.  So back to the meme, “Only God can judge me: that should scare you!”   One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is fear of the Lord.  Now I’m not saying you should be “scared” of God like you are the boogeyman.  What I am saying is we need to have a complete understanding of who God is.  He is God, and He is the judge.  That should bring about reverential awe.  We tend to have a “respect” for electricty or nuclear radiation that keeps us from being careless with it.   We’ve lost that with the most powerful person in the universe.   This reminds me of a quote that I heard a few months ago:

“If you want to see God’s infinite mercy, look to Heaven.  If you want to see God’s infinite justice?  Look at Hell.”