HOW DO WE SEE OURSELVES?

                                  How Do We See Ourselves?

                                          (Newspaper Article)

  Some years ago I was listening to a radio broadcast which caught my attention. Initially it rather amused me. Apparently a poll was taken somewhere in the US regarding the spiritual views of Americans. Little doubt we Canadians would respond any differently. As I recall, the first question was if they believed in God. Most said that they did. Next they were asked if they believed in Heaven. Again the majority believed in Heaven and felt assured they would be going if there is one. Naturally they were asked if they believed in Hell. Fewer claimed to believe that there is a Hell, saying, “How could a loving God send a person to Hell?” The following statement is what I found amusing. The predominate answer exposes how we typically see ourselves and others. When asked if they believed that there is a Hell and do they think they would be going, many or most said that they did not feel they would be going to Hell because they are basically a good person; but they did feel that many of their friends would be going to Hell if indeed there is one.  

 Isn’t it funny how we can see the faults of others and come up with what we feel is a suitable judgment for them, and yet we are not able to judge ourselves by the same measure (and we all do it, including yours truly)? For years I worked with street people and inmates, and found them to have very few illusions about their goodness. Eventually the Lord took me out of that realm and I was required to work along with the ‘Law Abiding Citizens’ of society. I found a much different attitude among them (or us), but not necessarily a superior moral behavior. “The Bible says, “The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after.”

  Judging is easy for us when we are using our own standards, but God will be judging us by His. In God’s sight, how many of us will be found to be liars, thieves, greedy, druggies, alcoholics, sexually immoral, blasphemers, idolaters, murders (in the Bible hate is a form of murder), and so on? Well guess what, then apparently we are all guilty. But there is fantastic news. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, paid the penalty for our sins on the cross so that we can be forgiven, then He rose from the dead. Now, in what light should we be judging ourselves and others? And most definitely before God Almighty we need to rightly judge ourselves?