The Saints Will Judge the World

We’ve had a trying last seven days in the Stuppy household. There was something the Lord was trying to tell me. It started with a bible study last Sunday that touched on this verse:

 “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?” 1 Corinthians 6:2

 It’s the first line in this scripture that caught me: . “The saints will judge the world”.... 

There’s biblical evidence that Gods people will reign with Christ in a millennial Kingdom ON earth. It’s some far out unfulfilled prophecy that I’ve not heard many churches preach on...but it’s there. Believers will “judge” the earth. Now there are really great teachers out there that can expand on the millennial Kingdom prophecy ..that’s not what I’m going to do here ...instead, I’m going to walk you through what happened when THIS verse really grabbed me Sunday and how I knew God was trying to teach me something.

 Sunday morning - this verse stood out among everything and I kept pondering it. 

Sunday afternoon- a very dramatic call was made to me where I had to weigh a VERY difficult decision. I mulled it over, I prayed over it . I reached out to other believers for counsel. I considered my motives, had other believers talk through my motives with me. I made a decision, thinking it was right...but still knowing that in the end , other people affected may either understand my decision, or be upset with me over it. But the decision was given to me to make...and I couldn’t avoid it or get out of making a decision. So I made a judgement call. 

 Later that night I brought this verse up again jokingly to my small group because we were talking about our own sin struggles with judging other people...past and present. I jokingly referenced this same verse like, “hey, it's all good, one day God will put you in a position to be a judge”. 

I still kept pondering it all.

 A few days later , I was writing Zoe who has always struggled with the weightiness of making decisions. In a nutshell, she doesn't like making decisions. I always tell her “ You don’t have to figure out the answer to everything  today...just do the thing God has right in front of you on this day. Work on THAT decision. It’s those little steps of obedience. She has had some really awesome success getting this concept. 

So writing this letter to her this week about this verse and how God continually gives us these hard decisions to make...that it’s for a purpose. It occurred to me  that we're all being trained in this life...there are perpetual opportunities for us to do homework, if you will. A test of our judgement. A chance to make better judgements. And it’s doesn't end as long as we have breath in our lungs. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes, meh...not so much....ALL OF US. But the Lord doesn’t leave us there. Even if we fail, he sends us another matter to weigh, more homework to practice. It’s a gift. He’s hopeful we’ll eventually get it right. He’s hopeful , even when we get it wrong...He always gives us more trials to endure...more matters to weigh, more steps of obedience to take. He’s forming judges and His people to reign with Him.  He is the Teacher, we are the students. Pay attention, class is in session!

 I'm trying to explain to Zoe that it’s okay if she’s failed, failures don’t define us...God is graceful with us and gives us more opportunities. As I’m writing this all, I look over to see our new puppy pooped on the kitchen floor. I walk over,  pick up the poop...put her paw on the back door bell hanging from the door ...carry her and her poop outside to the place she’s supposed to poop and  hope she gets it right next time . We still love her, even though she keeps pooping in the house...we’re still hopeful she’ll eventually stop pooping in the house one day. We’re training her to get it right. One day at a time. Let God form you, small steps of obedience friends. Even WHEN( not if) you fail...get up and try it again. The Lord has a future for you. Just try and get the correction, don't poop on the floor forever...that's no good.

 The day I wrote that letter to Zoe and then explained it all to both a friend and my husband...that SAME night..I took the boys to youth group. On the way to youth group,  at 6 pm, my  radio started playing a sermon on the the radio dial  set from the prior day.  The pastor had just begun, and his words will filling my car. He started with that SAME passage about the "saints judging the earth", then  proceeded to give an entire sermon on this exact issue. I’ve never even heard a pastor preach on this scripture before...but imagine that...there it was. That’s a wink from my God. Message received 🙂