In the fall of 2018, I heard a voice calling me to create a devotional that connects God’s children closer to God, closer to each other, and closer to the saints and sinners who make up the Bible. I heard it in the midst of a season when leaders who call themselves Christian were distancing us from God, from each other, and from those same stories that teach us who we are in the world. I hope these devotions offer comfort, encouragement, and deepening connections to God’s earth and God’s many and diverse children, so that we may be a people building God’s Beloved Community together. You’ll find a devotional here every Wednesday in 2019, and in other places I posted about below.* The devotions are written as if from God, and I hope I did not fail in my effort to honor both God and you in the process.
Deuteronomy 1:17a You must not be partial in judging: hear out the small and the great alike; you shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgement is God’s.
I know there have been times you have felt misunderstood. No one can know anyone’s entire story except for me. That is why, throughout the scriptures, I kept reminding your ancestors, your forebears, that they do not get to judge people whose stories they do not yet know. And now I remind you. Prejudging is absolutely a sin; judging with limited information is a sin. And favoring those in power over those who are struggling is not only a sin; it breaks my heart. Today I invite you to think of my children who are being prejudged, judged without people having full knowledge of their situation, and ask yourself how you can play a role in compassionately liberating people from the sin of prejudgement.
*You can find us Tuesdays on Twitter (@DevotionalLove), Thursdays on Instagram, Fridays on Facebook, and if you sign up here, you’ll get a devotion in your inbox every Sunday!
Sandhya Rani Jha 