Spiritual Ponderings

The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship; it establishes a mutual regard for the fact that the basis of life is tragic . Always beware of an estimate of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin. Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical, never suspicious , because He trusted absolutely in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman, not the innocent , is the safeguarded man or woman. You are never safe with an innocent man or woman. Men and women have no business to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child; it is a blameworthy thing for a man or woman not to be reconciled to the fact of sin. ( My Utmost for His Highest, June 24) I find this reading for today to be very instructing, helpful, insightful and convicting. It is helpful in that it gives me some clues as to why I so often feel cynical and suspicious. It is insightful because it alerts me...

The reading from My Utmost for today is one of those very convicting wakeup calls that jolts me into realization of some of my greatest defects. It puts the finger directly on areas of my life that have caused me the greatest problems and that are generational in nature. Here is the reading. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. ( Matthew 7:2) This statement is not a haphazard guess, it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give, it is measured to you again. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus says that the basis of life is retribution—“with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the defects in others, remember that will be exactly the measure given to you. Life serves back in the coin you pay . This law works from God’s throne downwards (cf. Psalm 18:25-26). Romans 2 applies it in a still more definite w...