I continue to be struck this morning by the idea that being *IN* the covenant, IN the covenant relationship with God, means that God bears us no ill will. This has immense pastoral care significance, as one's frequent knee jerk reaction to the trials and tribulations of life is that perhaps "God is judging me for some particular sin in my life." On the one hand, this reaction can be understood--if from no other angle, at least the perfectly pragmatic angle that perhaps if I just get that one thing (whatever it is) straightened out, then God's judgment against me will cease.
Unfortunately, the problem with this line of thought is that it is based upon a theological fallacy. The judgment of God that awaits the non-believer is an eschatological event. It isn't currently happening, but *will* happen at the end of all time when Christ "comes again to judge the living and the dead. For the believer, it is also a theological fallacy to think that God is visiting judgment upon him or her for sin, as St. Paul tells us in Col 2:14: "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross." Hence, the trials and tribulations that occur in our lives are the trials and tribulations that occur in life .....given this fallen world we live in.
While it is a thought from a different liturgical season, the angels recognized that God was not at war with us when at the birth of Christ they sang: Glory to God in the highest and *peace* good will to man.
Cheers,
TM
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