Trusting in God’s Judgment Releases Us from Our Own
In the Apple TV show Ted Lasso, Rebecca Welton, the owner of Richmond, a premier football team in England, is obsessed with getting revenge on her ex-husband Rupert Mannion. This obsession leads her to alienate her best friend, lose her trusted assistant, lie to and manipulate Ted, and lose her own way. Her obsession with revenge has cost her more than anyone else—a lesson for all of us.
The Apostle Paul tells the early church to be careful about devouring one another, or they might be consumed themselves (Ga. 5:15). We, too, are at risk of this. When we become obsessed with our judgments, sense of justice, or revenge we can quickly lose ourselves along the way.
Trusting in God’s judgment releases us from being imprisoned by our own. Let me share with you three ways I believe this is helpful.
First, we find hope that God will defeat evil. While some might argue that there is no such thing as evil, many of us recognize that there are evil forces at work in the world, bringing destruction, chaos, and death. Our world needs restoration but history has shown that we, as humans, are incapable of restoring things. It’s good news that a loving God will judge and defeat evil.
Second, we are freed to love when we accept that judgment is God’s job, not our own. In our house, my wife takes care of creating magic. She’s an excellent gift-giver, makes things beautiful, and is a fantastic baker. I’m very grateful for this because it frees me from worrying about it and delivering a lower-quality experience to our family. This analogy is valid for human judgment. We struggle with being judgmental, biased, and self-centered. Judgment is not our strength, but thankfully it’s God’s. Since we can trust God’s judgment, we can lean into Jesus’ non-judgment, forgiveness, and grace teachings.
Finally, God’s victory and defeat over evil depicted in Revelation allows us to end the cycle of hate and violence by choosing not to avenge ourselves, but instead feed our enemies, and overcome evil with good (Ro. 12:19-21). Our world is filled with horrific injustice. People’s towns are destroyed, and human beings are abused, enslaved, and murdered. If strict one-for-one restitutive justice is pursued, the cycle of violence will never end. If acts of injustice are ignored, that is an insult to justice. But, if a loving God will deliver justice, then we can practice the radical words of Paul and overcome evil with good.
God’s justice has two distinct parts. First, God takes injustice upon Godself through the cross, creating a path to freedom for both victims and perpetrators. Second is God’s annihilation of evil that refuses to bend to the love of God. These two parts enable creation to be restored. The destruction of injustice is in the hands of the one Revelation describes as “Faithful and True, King of kings and Lord of Lords (19:11,16).”
If we no longer have to concern ourselves with executing our own judgment or vengeance, we are freed to seek ways to overcome evil with good. What might that look like for you?
