Luke 13:1-5

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Jesus was speaking to a group of people who, at the time, were looking at the physical circumstances surrounding someone and judging, from that, the state of the person's conscience and soul. They were labelling people as "sinners" because bad things had happened to those peopole.

Too often, we do the same. We assume someone in poverty is not in God's favor...or someone who is blessed financially is. Or we assume that someone for whom everything is going "right" is obviously doing what is right and God is blessing them. But this is something we need to be careful with. For example, Job was doing everything right...and yet he was inflicted with horrible things that happened to him, his family, his fortune. (Interesting to note that at that time, his friends also started looking for what "sin" had brought this calamity on him.)

We also sometimes assume that, when something bad happens, we have done something to "deserve" it. Or we have brought it on ourselves. That is not always the case. Though certainly it is worth doing a self-examination when things go south to see if we are harboring some unconfessed, unrepented sin. But that's worth doing when things are going WELL, too!

Action Item for Today: Don't be quick to judge people, based on the circumstances you see around them.