1 Corinthians 4:5 – “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”

This verse struck me as a fun little plot twist this morning. Almost the way some jokes or written humor works by resolving in a starkly different reality than the assumptions it led you to make during the lead-up to the punchline.

We are all well aware of the ubiquitous “Fire and Brimstone” archetype for God. I think the assumption that many make about God is that He is a lightning-bolt-wielding, creased-browed dictator who hovers over each of us, poised to strike swift retribution for any wrongdoing.

And I will be the first to tout His glory and perfection and admit how drastically far I am (and we all are) from being able to live into or up to that kind of existence. Plenty of accounts throughout the Bible demonstrate God’s powerful and justified reactions to wrong. They’re big. They’re scary. They leave us nervous and left the people present cowering (or dead). God’s righteousness is not something to be flippant about.

But the last line in this verse struck me today. There we were, discussing God’s judgement and all-knowingness and inevitable entrance into our reality to one day reveal everything about us and our motivations. And then the thought concluded with, “At that time each will receive his praise from God.”

It creates in my mind’s eye a very cool scene. The scene in a movie when you expect something to go very badly – perhaps the main character might make a fatal mistake or lose everything or get conquered – and then, out of nowhere, the terrible tragedy is averted or someone makes an out-of-the-blue save.

I don’t know what this verse means. But I loved reading it and I want to think about it more. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share/comment.

-LS