Judging

What do we believe, and more importantly, why do we believe what we believe?

It’s not as simple as saying one believes one make and model of a car is better than another. The impact of that choice is minimal. Regarding today’s hot-button issues – pick one; anyone – that’s a different matter. Why is one denounced and another accepted? This duality, these two sides to the coin, is also biblically enacted.

We participate in a biblical lifestyle confronted with horrific stories of human and natural disasters and stories of the miraculous. Break a covenant; expect a consequence. Live a virtuous life; become what it is meant to be.

The characters coming before Jesus seem to come from central casting, perfect for the subsequent unfolding scene. A non-Jewish woman and a foreigner also begged for help for her possessed daughter. Jesus, who belongs to a Jewish tradition, speaks to this distressed woman from an advantageous point of view. He is Jewish; she is not. Why would he do her any favor? And here comes the lesson and the point of a seeming dismissal of her. Regardless of her ethnicity, she sets aside their cultural backgrounds, begging Jesus to cast out her daughter’s demon. Lesson learned. Her faith saved the daughter, and Jesus is available to everyone who comes to him in faith.

So many of us are in a foreign land – not a country or a particular landmass – but we perceive people as foreign to us. They look different, speak differently, wear different clothing, live different lifestyles, eat different foods.

Can we who walk with Christ accept everyone as a child of God? Should we fill our lives with so many exceptions?

Prayer:

Judge me, LORD, according to my righteousness and my integrity. (Psalm 7:9)