On That Day, on That Great Day when we all shall give an account, we will not be confronted by or seated before regal and officious legions of men, false judges whose opinions are based upon faulty logic, incomplete information, bent by predisposition or tradition or prejudicial bias. Rather . . .

The One whose flesh was battered, torn and pierced and whose blood coursed from ripped veins onto sullen soil, demonstrating such love as no man ever had known or given will on That Day sit beside the Father who sent the Son to die in our stead.

Seeing then that the Righteous and Loving One shall hear our case and know our cause and then shall rule in mercy, why should we give even momentary ear to the cacophony of garbled judgments issuing forth from cracked and broken lips of clay? My Judge is my Lord, my Magistrate is my Master, my Sovereign is my Savior who does all things well. On That Day, it is He who shall issue the only opinion that matters.

As children of Light then, let us not identify ourselves by how others see us, but by who we know ourselves to be in Christ. We can recapture who we were created to be if we can close ourselves off to the voices that shout and accuse, and learn to lean in to hear the whispers of the still, small Voice who loves and affirms us in our true identity. I am crucified with Christ, and yet… I live! I’m walking, learning, and yearning to RUN.