With all the flooding that’s going on now, it’s inevitable that some ‘prophet’ is going to start going on about God’s judgement on a sinful people. Hopefully all political parties will learn from this terrible lesson and never attempt to take out a sitting prime minister from Queensland again. But seriously, before we are too quick to proclaim God’s judgement, let us consider three points.
Firstly, what are we to do with all the Christians in the area who were flooded out as well? Can we say with certainty that they were more sinful than all the other Christians living in Australia? Were all the properties owned by Christians miraculously preserved? Do we dare to say those unaffected by the floods are more righteous than those affected? Before we make up our minds about this, let us consider Jesus’ teaching in Luke 13:1-5. Or to take it further, shall we now say that of all the states and territories in Australia, Queensland deserves God’s judgement the most?
Secondly, while it may be a simple explanation that the dry are just more righteous than the wet, we should also keep in mind that old saying about specks of dust and optical plank removals (Matthew 7:3-5). Jesus wasn’t very nice to people who thought they were more righteous than all the others around them (Matthew 23, Mark 7:1-13, Luke 11:37-53).
Thirdly, Jesus was more interested in proclaiming grace rather than judgement (John 3:17). And when he did talk about judgement, it was more often than not directed at people who claimed they were God-followers. Those who claim to know God’s laws have less excuse than the heathen who are ignorant of God’s expectations (because God’s people aren’t very good at explaining it to them).
We are all sinful and we all deserve judgement. But Jesus came to fix that and that is what we should focus on. If we really are bursting to say something to the lost, it would be better for us to remind them of God’s compassion, goodness and grace, and invite them to partake of that.
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