Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12.

In their time of trouble they cried to You, and You heard them from heaven. Nehemiah 9:27.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 69: Judge the world in righteousness. Psalm 9:7-10: But the LORD abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment, and He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity. The LORD also will be a stronghold in times of trouble; and those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You. And, Acts 17:31: Because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

I loved this this morning in You Are The Beloved by Henri Nouwen: “Our tendency is to run away from the painful realities or to try to change them as soon as possible. But cure without care makes us into rulers, controllers, manipulators, and prevents a real community from taking shape. Cure without care makes us preoccupied with quick changes, impatient and unwilling to share each other’s burden. And so cure can often become offending instead of liberating.”

I was thinking, before coffee (deep sigh), about what makes leaders in criminal organizations even want to be there? Why would they choose that kind of life? And then I thought about watching on Angel last night, The Parable of the Good Samaritan. In thinking about the good Samaritan in the parable Jesus told (Luke 10:25-37), and from the show, I realized that Jesus is the Good Samaritan, and in being the Good Samaritan, He turned that word upside down. Where we see people to be hated or to be judged harshly, (Jews/Samaritans then – Jews/Palestinians today?), Jesus sees people in need. And the amazing thing is, He sees all of us, every single one of us. He helped me see this morning how wrong my own thinking was last night as I watched the news. A man mowing down pedestrians individually with his vehicle before being stopped by police and taken away; a teenager reenacting a horrible shooting because he admires the Columbine shooters, also taken away by police. My thought? They should have put a bullet in their head! That’s not the first time I’ve had that thought watching people do awful things on the news, and all that does is perpetuate the hate everywhere, including in me. And He reminded me in prayer to pray for them instead of wish that harm to them. To remember my own sins and wrong thinking. To remember His love and the hope and joy His love has brought into my life, and to trust Him for that same love bringing healing to people caught up in the sins that their wrong thinking brings. I started this blog so I could share how knowing Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, is changing my life for good, and that must include all the lessons so needed in me, because they are so needed for all of us. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror – then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part – then I shall know fully – even as I am fully known. He knows us now, every part of us, and all the parts of us that need His healing to bring hope and joy yet to be that is real. Jesus, our true Good Samaritan, doesn’t judge as we do, perpetuating the very hate that is killing us from within and spilling outward to hurt others. He looks at our need for His love healing us, all of us, to our very core that brings true hope and joy, and for that we can give profound thanks!

***PRAYER UPON RISING FROM SLEEP My God, Father, and Savior, since You have been pleased to give me the grace to come through the night to the present day, now grant that I may employ it entirely in Your service, so that all my works may be to the glory of Your name and the edification of my neighbors. As You have been pleased to make Your sun shine upon the earth to give us bodily light, grant the light of Your Spirit to illumine my understanding and my heart. And because it means nothing to begin well if one does not persevere, I ask that You would continue to increase Your grace in me until You have led me into full communion with Your Son, Jesus Christ our LORD, who is the true Sun of our souls, shining day and night, eternally and without end. Hear me, merciful Father, by our LORD Jesus Christ. John Calvin (1509-1564), Catechism of the Church of Geneva, adapted by Tim Keller in John Calvin (1509-1564) and Henry Beveridge, Vol. 2 (Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 98-99.***