Mere Christianity, Day 119

I read the neatest thing in CS Lewis's Mere Christianity the other day. He was saying that God looks at the heart, people just look at circumstances and judge things based on what they "think" they know. Yeah, yeah we all know that. Well he gave an obserd example something along the lines of: one man could get angry and kill hundreds of people and another man could get angry and slam a door extremely hard and for all we know God veiwed the act of getting angry equally in both men based on the condition of their hearts, based on the inward going ons and workings that we cannot see. We would automatically say the man who slain hundreds was evil and horrid and going to hell. Obviously the man who slammed the door commited no sin. BUT we are unable to see within each mans heart. We can only see the outward appearance. This is why, CS Lewis says, the Bible tells us not to judge. We cannot see what God sees and we do not know how He sees a thing. We think that we "have" the information necessary to condemn or for that matter to honor a man but we cannot see no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we investigate, and no matter how much the individual tell us... into anyones heart.

This was a VERY good reminder that I do not know and I cannot judge. This is one thing I am very glad to let go of (or at least to try and release). I do not want to presume to be the proud owner of such intellect, insight, and knowledge that I am able to honor and condemn. I'd much rather just try to love people, all people. And I shall try.