The Warning

"There, but for the Grace of God, go I..."
John Bradford, Martyred 1555, Newgate Prison, London

12 "There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"
James 4:12


1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."
Matthew 7:1-5

" Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."
Eph. 4:29-32

As I meditated on these scriptures, and on Bradford's phrase, " There, but for the Grace of God, go I", I asked the Lord what the real nature of that phrase is, to which I heard Him say, "It is a warning".
What are our purposes as they relate to each other? If we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, and use only words that are edifying, and directed to be tender hearted and forgiving as the Lord is with each of us, where is the purpose of outright judgement? We who are mature do have an obligation, I believe, to "bring up" those who are younger in the Lord, by teaching Christian disciplines, but it is Jesus' love that has been poured out on us, not to hoard, but to reflect and spread out over each other - that solves most issues among us, the living stones, the Church. It is love- the kind of love that our God/Father/Bridegroom/King has lavished on us with abandon, for us to love Him - and each other back with, that He has ruined me with, this amazing love that covers all sins, makes forgiveness reality, enables long-suffering, and it is love that fuels that aspect of our God/Father/Bridegroom/King which is an all consuming fire.
On Judgement Day, there will be plenty to go around, until then, let's go about the business of building the Kingdom, by putting the stones together, not knocking them apart.