Our Righteous Judge

Today’s Reading: Amos 1-3; Acts 15:22-41

As I read Amos this morning, the only image that came to mind was God as our righteous judge. Yes, He’s a loving God, but He also can’t stand the presence of sin in His midst. As Creator of the universe He has the right to judge the sins of the world, and He does.
Israel was and is His chosen people, yet they chose time and again to turn from Him and worship idols. And so He punished them for their sins.
Yet even in the midst of punishing them, He was providing a way out. As depressing as the book of Amos can be, all we have to do is page forward a few books, and we come to the book of Matthew. It’s here that we find the glorious news of Salvation.
Our Just God created a bridge between the sinful world and Himself. He gave us Jesus, whose blood covered the sins of the entire world.
I feel like I’m starting to get preachy, so I’ll just leave you with two passages of scripture today.

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:5-10 NIV).

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:14-17 NIV).

How can you share the judgment and salvation of God with the world around you?