To Save, Not Condemn

One of the most familiar verses in all of scripture says, “God loved the world to much that he gave hi only Son” (John 3:16). The important implication of that positive statement comes in the very next verse: “He didn’t send his Son into the world to condemn it but to save it” (3:17).

God has no inclination to see how many people he can send to hell, so we need not live in fear of him; all his intentions toward us are benevolent and loving.

Our first impulse, then, as Christ’s disciples is likewise to work toward other people’s benefit. Obviously, we are in no position to condemn anybody else, but even a negative attitude toward them also falls aside as well. That includes any desire to bear grudges against them or want to criticize them for their admitted faults.

Participating in this memorial of what the Son did obligates us to look away from criticizing other people—and we should add, it looks away from “criticizing ourselves.” If anything conveys to us the value God puts on us, this Christ event should surely tell us so. We can use this experience together with him to raise a positive valuing of our own selves in a way that roots out a disabling sense of inadequacy and sinfulness and replace it with a stress on our positive points. That approach to ourselves can then bleed across to overcoming our deficiencies.

In short, taking the elements transfers into us a call for picking up on everything evidenced in the Messiah at his crucifixion.