Judgment and Joy—mutually exclusive. Romans 14.19-23

This is a good one—I hope you’ll read it and meditate on it.

Paul closes out Romans 14 by making an appeal to the Roman church to do what it takes to get along with one another. “Make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food… Whatever you believe about these things [food or wine] keep between yourself and God …” (There is no need for you to peddle your convictions about opinions/gray areas to other people—don’t try to put ‘your trips’ on them.) But, by all means, if you feel it is wrong in your own conscience to eat or drink something—then do not violate your conscience, as that would be sin. Romans 14.19-23, 17 Notice with me again verse 17: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Ah yes, Paul—it seems like this little verse was just slid quietly into the text, and could be easily missed! Not so! the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit… Oh, yes. I would like to be so bold as to say that if we are given to passing judgment on others, we will struggle with knowing righteousness, peace and joy in our lives. All three must be worked out in us believers by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, right? But, how much room does the Spirit have to come and work in us—to grow and transform us in righteousness—holy living--, how much room does he have to come and work his peace or gift us with joy, if our hearts are hard with judgment, fault-finding and criticism?

Dearest Lord, This is right. This is true. Please Lord, forgive me for judgment and criticism I have leveled at others. Would you perform a judgment-ectomy on me—scoop out the yuck from my heart—excise the wound, so that in its place, the Spirit can move me toward right living and right thinking. Get rid of the cancer of criticism so that peace can reign—your perfect peace. I know that peace does not mean the absence of troubles in my life, but in the midst of the turmoil, a restful heart in you. Pull out the weeds so that in their place, sunflowers of joy can burst forth … Amen.”

Ah, joy … sweet joy. Christian, let’s go on a crusade to bring back joy!

Joy is linked with the heart of God—yea, it comes from the heart of God, because at the heart of God are all things good. For some, that is hard to swallow because maybe the religious or judgmental Christians have painted God as austere, far-off, possibly vindictive, or as a cosmic killjoy—when he is none of those.

When I was 12 years old, I played the organ at the evening service of a neighborhood church. One of my favorite hymns had the chorus, ‘it is joy unspeakable and full of glory, and the half has never yet been told.’ The melody was pretty, and the words sung of a joy that is unequalled and can’t really even be described—that kind of joy comes only from knowing the Lord.

Part of the joy of the Lord is how he feels about you, his beloved creature. The Father is ravished by you. You make him smile. You make him laugh. You make him leap for joy. You make his heart beat faster. The Bible even says, you make him sing for joy.* Whether or not you understand that, does not stop God from feeling about you as he does. He loves your smile. The blemishes, wrinkles, and extra pounds you have may bother you, but he looks right past them. He loves you—just as you are. He loves you when you are awake, vibrant, and full of life, and he loves you when you’re down, tired, and feeling lethargic. The truth is, God really likes you; in fact, he enjoys you. Thanks to the gracious act of his Son, he also sees you perfectly redeemed—when you put your trust in him.

The great philosopher Blaise Pascal made this observation: “There once was in man a true happiness of which now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present. But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say only by God himself.”

So, God, would you take away our judgmental spirits, Lord, and fill us with your righteous, your peace, and your JOY!

Christine Todd DiGiacomo

*Zephaniah 3.17