Surprise, surprise!

“Human beings judge one another by their external actions. God judges them by their moral choices. When a neurotic who has a pathological horror of cats forces himself to pick up a cat for some good reason, it is quite possible that in God's eyes he has shown more courage than a healthy man may have shown in winning the V.C. When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing, does some tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God's eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend.

“It is as well to put this the other way round. Some of us who seem quite nice people may, in fact, have made so little use of a good heredity and a good upbringing that we are really worse than those whom we regard as friends. Can we be quite certain how we should have behaved if we had been saddled with the psychological outfit, and then with the bad upbringing, and then with the power, say, of Himmler? That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But god does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. Most of the man's psychological make-up is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the best or worst of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice things which we thought our own, but which were really due to good digestion, will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises.”

I think I have read that except about 10 times. I can’t get enough. Oh yeah, its from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

According to a survey that just did just did of myself, the #1 complaint about “christians” is that they are judgmental. That’s a real fact. Okay, my opinion.

But seriously, how often have you heard that people are judgmental? Have you heard it said that God will judge? He is the Judge after all, right? Judgment Day?

What sort of “fairness” will the Judge use on Judgment Day? Ours?

One thing I am sure of… God will not consult American society on how to judge a human soul.

But back to that passage, I am still pondering it. I know Lewis’ writings haven’t been canonized (yet), but I really appreciate the perspective he brings to the concept of judging.

Read the last sentence of the first paragraph again. Seriously, do it now.

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48b

Okay so here is my point. If you feel like you have been blessed with a lot and have been a good “christian” for most of your life, get off your self-righteous butt and give every single thing you can because a lot is be expected of you.

If you are new to the God thing, just do what you can. Don’t worry about figuring it all our or acting perfect. Just be kind to the people around you.

Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who mistreat you.
Give to anyone who asks.
If anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

There will be surprises when all things are seen in the end. So please help me in that journey and I will help you.