Dear church,

Can we make distinctions about things in this world without becoming “judgmental”? God’s people always have been called to see the difference between things – between male and female, between different types of seed, between livestock, between different types of cloth, between good and evil. 

Not everything in the created order is the same. Creation allows for differences in the things that were made, and these differences bring richness and variety to life. To blur these distinctions pushes society toward chaos. God’s people were to recognize the created order – God’s created order – in the world around them, and they were to abide by it.

Some consider it to be judgmental or intolerant to make such distinctions. But a baker is judgmental in her refusal to use pickle juice in place of milk in a cake recipe. The creation calls for something else. 

God was calling his people to create as they entered the Promised Land. “If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess …” (Deuteronomy 21:1). The people were called to create a just society that lived in communion with God, the Creator. 

God established his order, and he called his people to be people of distinction, not to judge hatefully, but to bring forth the fullness of life.

Chris