Series: The Judged
Message: Guilty Go Free
Preacher: Elia King
Reflection: Elia King
Live Wonder: Jessyka Albert
Live Adventure: Jessyka Albert
Live Purpose: Japhet De Oliveira
Editor: Becky De Oliveira

Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.

Read: Romans 3:21-31 in the New Living Translation (NLT). Note 1–3 insights or questions. 

Reflect: I still remember the first time I didn’t get a recess at school.

Maybe more accurately, I should say that I clearly remember the first time I lost a recess at school. My classmates and I had been especially rowdy that day, as can often happen with a group of thirty-some kidlets. There were four grades mashed together in our classroom, and only three full-time teachers in the school—it was a wonder they kept their patience as well as they did. On this day in particular, we had been asked to calm down. We had been encouraged. We had been nearly begged to keep our voices quiet as we made our way from the classroom to the gym where we would inevitably work out most of our wiggles. We knew we should keep quiet. We had walked the hallway hundreds of times in a straight line with smiles on our faces and our hands clasped behind our backs.

But we couldn’t help ourselves.

As we neared the doors to the gymnasium, which might as well have had a sign reading “Freedom!” over them, I let out a glorious whoop that might have shaken the rafters of the building had it not been interrupted by the voice of our teacher.

“Eeee-nough!” she shrieked. She lined us up and marched us back to our classroom where we spent the remaining nineteen minutes of our twenty-minute recess with our heads on our desks.

For all these years, I have known that our lost recess was the result of many contributing factors, all working together in a singular fateful moment. And yet, when I think back to that morning, I can never seem to shake the feeling that it was my fault alone. I have always felt guilty, like I owed something to my classmates that I can never repay.

As I sat with my head on my desk that day, contemplating all of the poor life choices that had led me to that moment, I could feel my classmates’ eyes on me, even though they also had their heads down on their own desks. I just knew they were blaming me for the recess that would never be. And yet, strangely, none of them ever mentioned it to me. None of them ever said a thing about it. Maybe it was because somehow we all knew that each of us was partly to blame.

As a (mostly) grown-up person, I have a difficult time remembering that sometimes. When things don’t go according to plan at work or behind the wheel, although I recognize what Paul wrote to the church in Rome as true in theory, I forget sometimes in practice that I am navigating a world along with other broken people. In other words, it’s easy to forgive someone’s mistakes when the results of those mistakes happen to someone else. But when I am wounded, it’s much more difficult to be forgiving or compassionate.

Recalibrate: If all have sinned, why are we so quick to judge the sinners around us?

Respond: Pray today for more patience with the ones around you, and for the wisdom and insight to treat them as Jesus might.

Research: Listen to "Wild World" by Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. Do you think it’s true that “Love is all we’ve got to give away?” Could it really be that simple? How does that belief shape the way you live?

Remember: “God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same” (Romans 3:22, NCV).

Elia King is a singer, songwriter, designer, and guitarist who has been leading music in worship settings around the world for more than two decades. He owns Trail Ridge Printing, a screen printing company in Estes Park, CO, and is worship leader at Boulder Adventist Church. Elia graduated with a BA in religion from Andrews University in 2004. He is married to Dena, owner of The Grey House—a mountain boutique—and they have two children, Ellie and Anderson. 

With the help of your child’s artistic abilities (whatever level they might be) make a piece of art containing the words “God makes me right with Him.” Put this in a place where your family can easily see it for the rest of the week, such as your refrigerator door. When things go wrong this week (as they so often do), remember that the most important thing is that God makes us right with Him.

Find an old, broken toy and talk with your parents about what it needs to be fixed, to be made right again. Does it need new batteries? Does it need to be sewn up? You might not get the chance to fix it today, but write down a plan of how you are going to make it right again. Remember that God has a way of making us right with Him too!

I was driving in France in a convoy years ago, returning from Spain to England, when our group arrived at a toll station and I could not find my ticket to get through. My car was packed with youth leaders and somehow we had dropped it in the mess somewhere. By the time we explained our problem in our horribly broken French, the rest of our convoy had already gone through the station and were miles ahead of us. I felt like I had no option but to catch up with them, as fast as I possibly could. At the next toll station, every booth had a French police officer looking for my car, and when they spotted it, I was very kindly escorted to the side of the road where the police explained with crystal clear sign language that I had a huge fine to pay for speeding. I did not have enough cash on me. They escorted me—at over 140 mph in a police car—to the nearest cash machine so that I could take out the necessary cash to pay the fine and continue on my merry way. They also confiscated my license and promised to mail it back to England three months later. One of my youth leaders had to drive the rest of the way home. Was that fair? Was it fair that they got to drive at 140 mph when I got a ticket for driving slower than that? Was it fair that I got caught? Where was the mercy? Should I have been banned for one year instead of three months? Was the fine too small? (It was a lot!) What system would you create to deal with people who break the law and speed? What if I had caused an accident and hurt myself, or, worse yet, hurt my passengers or other people? What would make that right? Justice is so very complicated. Think and talk about the principles you use to define fairness.