God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. John 3:17-18 NLT

The children of Israel knew well that God judges sin. While they had often experienced His mercy, they had also suffered His judgement on their sin. For them to believe that God would send His Son for reasons other than judgement was a stretch. Never could they have imagined that a Messiah would come, not to condemn but to forgive.

Why, at the announcement of salvation, do we often prefer condemnation? We’d rather hate ourselves than let God love us. We’d rather continue in destructive patterns of sin than let Jesus re-arrange our lives. In our stubbornness, we’d rather refuse to give up our anger against a God who wounds but also provides a cure. Let’s admit it ~ we nurse our grudges against His holiness.

I’ll personalize. Let’s say that I go so far as to admit my guilt. I confess it but then wallow around in it for a while, insisting that I don’t deserve to be forgiven. Condemnation feels justified and quite comfortable the longer I wear it. I can even feel powerful as I exert my freedom to shun the Forgiver. Satan is the author of such foolishness and he celebrates when this kind of twisted pleasure keeps God’s creation from the joy of a free and forgiven conscience.

Jesus did not come into the world to judge it as proven by His own death on a cross. He paid for mankind’s sin Himself as if He was the One who committed centuries of atrocities. Oh, to have paid such a price only to see people reject the gift of this expensive pardon. For whatever reason people reject Jesus, it’s a tragic response to the humblest suffering Servant of all.

Does my own self-condemnation keep me from the joy of forgiveness? Break my pride. Amen