Week 2 Day 1
Judge Not, Lest You Be Judged
The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.
Luke 22:31–32
Though faint my prayers, and cold my love
My stedfast hope shall not remove,
While Jesus intercedes above.
Against me earth and hell combine;
But on my side is power Divine;
Jesus is all, and he is mine.
A United States senator who believed that every man who believed in secession should be executed asked President Lincoln what he intended to do with Confederate soldiers after the war was over. Lincoln said he planned to “forgive and forget,” to reconstruct and unify the country. The senator proclaimed, “You are certainly crazy!” President Lincoln was unmoved and patiently suggested that the senator accept the post of chief executioner. “I am a gentleman, sir, and I certainly thought you knew me better than to believe me capable of doing such dirty work,” said the senator as he left the Oval Office, never to show his face there again. Lincoln was quick to forgive, to have mercy on his friends in the South. It would have been easy to judge them for their deeds, but instead he was ready to grant them mercy to live in peace and harmony. Are you a willing executioner, or are you like Lincoln, ready to forgive and forget?