Amos: Seek The Lord and Liveনমুনা

One of the striking features of God’s blast of anger in chapters 1–2 is that none of the nations He denounced had God’s Word. None of them had received the revelation of God that Israel had. Yet they are not being judged here for ignoring God or disobeying God’s Word (unlike Israel – see day 4); they are judged for their mistreatment of others. As Paul explains in Romans 2:14–16, everyone should know in their conscience that this sort of behaviour is wrong. 

That remains true of every individual. We may be a long, long way from committing war crimes, but all of us are still judged on how we treat others. 

At the end of history, when people stand before Jesus for judgment, perhaps some might argue, ‘It’s not fair that I’m rejected. No one taught me the Ten Commandments, and no one told me about Jesus.’ To this God could reply, ‘Very well, I will judge you purely on how well you have kept the moral standards that you applied to everyone else.’ Perhaps He might show footage of you saying, ‘I hate it when people gossip, lie and are mean to others.’ And then He may show further footage of you yourself gossiping, lying and being mean to others. 

What is clear is that on that final day, the mouth of every person will be silent – for no one has consistently lived up to the standards they demand of others, let alone God’s perfect law. That’s true for us too. All of us do, say and think things of others that we know in our consciences are wrong. The Lord says repeatedly that He will not relent from judging people for their mistreatment of others. 

Reflection

Confess the ways you've behaved in this way in the last week. Then praise God for the only person who had a pure conscience and treated others perfectly, Jesus, who nevertheless endured the 'unrelenting' judgement of God in our place.