This morning was one of those mornings in which I heard very clearly from the Lord...

I started out the morning with a prayer meeting with an awesome brother in Christ.  We prayed for about an hour - each of us seeking and praying for the messages that the Lord had for us as we began our day.  What an awesome way to start out the morning.  As we left and were driving our separate ways, another message came in loud and clear.  Something that I hadn't heard in some time but related to the things that we were praying about this morning...

Sometimes it seems as if our actions and choices are directly tied to an invisible jury of our "peers" who are standing in wait to pass judgment.  When we act and make choices that are in agreement with this jury we receive their approval and are not condemned.  When we act and make choices that are not in agreement with this jury, however, we are not only condemned for what has transpired but are given a sentence enmeshed with guilt and shame to carry around.  Furthermore, no matter how hard we try to convince our jury that our actions were valid and just, we find no safe harbor and are forced to carry the consequences of our actions.  Now, I am not talking about the actions and choices that we make in life that are not destructive in nature as those have obvious consequences that we must deal with.  For example, physically, emotionally or sexually assaulting your spouse have negative consequences associated with them.  Rather, I am talking about actions and choices of every day life.  For example, you may make a choice to go to church this Sunday or you may make a choice to skip going to church on Sunday so that you can rest, do some housework, spend some special time with your kids, etc., etc.  When making those kind of decisions, your invisible jury will either agree with you or convict you.  In the case of the latter, you may end up altering that decision in a vain effort to move back into agreement with this jury and avoid the consequences of your actions or you may just accept the consequences and carry out your original choice.  Either way, your choices and actions have been judged and it seems that our role in this ongoing "trial" is to keep in agreement with our jury to the fullest extent possible.

There are some who would simply call this your conscious; that thing that keeps you from straying to the left or to the right of the path you are on.  While that may be true, I also believe that in most circumstances, if you really look at and try to identify who this invisible jury of your peers is made of, you will find our enemy.  Recall that one of the names that our enemy is known by in the scriptures is the accuser (see Zechariah 3:1, Job 1:9-11 and Revelation 12:10).  His presence in our jury then seems to be in line with his role as the one who "leads the whole world astray" (Revelation 12:9).  But here is the really cool thing and what God reminded me of this morning.  We as believers in the Risen Christ, do not belong to this world, but rather we belong to God.  We were paid for at a price; that price being the precious blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  For that reason then, our invisible jury cannot be made up of those from the world as they have no dominion over us.

So here then, is the question that I have for you my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Who is on the invisible jury of your peers?  If you look and do not see Jesus as the sole juror, perhaps it is time to change your jury.

Your brother in Christ,

Jim