God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Romans 2:1-11

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.

Judgement and Judgmentalism

In our last post from Romans we saw Paul’s list of immoral behaviors in Romans chapter 1 (if you’re interest you can read more here: God vs. Culture: Paul’s list of immoral behaviors–Romans 1:18-32. In today’s passage we see a danger for us regarding that list. Obviously, from a place of love and for our own well being and for human flourishing in general, God desires for us to avoid those behaviors listed in Romans 1. But here in Romans 2, in our text for today, we see another danger, and that’s the danger of judgmentalism.

When I was younger, I was prone to judge the behavior of others. I’m not talking about evaluating how I might interact with someone based on their behavior. As an example, murder is on Paul’s list from Romans 1, as well as insolence, haughtiness, and ruthlessness. So, it would be obviously appropriate for me to evaluate the behavior of a haughty, insolent, ruthless murderer, and not allow that person to come anywhere near my grandson.

That’s not what I’m talking about. The kind of judgment I’m talking about is a spirit of condemnation that has a bitterness to it, or even anger, or worse yet hatred. I sometimes experienced feelings like that, until one day I heard someone share a warning that cut to my heart. They said,

Don’t judge people who sin differently than you do.

My heart melted when I heard that statement. I was reminded of Jesus’ parable about the unforgiving servant:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:23-35)

Yes, I was reminded of that parable, and I was mortified, and suddenly troubled about my relationship with God.

Through Christ, God has forgiven me for my sins.

My king has forgiven me.

Therefore nothing makes sense except to forgive and show mercy and grace and charity to everyone around me, including those who have fallen into the sins listed in Romans 1. That’s the heart Jesus wants us to have toward others. That’s the heart Jesus wants us to have even for our enemies. (Matthew 5:43-44)

It’s not my job to judge others.

It’s God’s job to judge others.

It’s my job to love others,

Like Jesus.

Available on Google Play Books and on Amazon!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon and the ebook is now available on Google Play Books.)