day no. 16,265: justification said and done or but for the moment

"There are only two possible bases of justification— one is the blood of Christ which frees us from accusation, and the other is relative superiority to somebody else, which only and always binds us to accusation." -- Douglas Wilson, All the Condemnation in the World

Because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, condemnation is inescapable and because condemnation is uncomfortable, justification is inescapable. But the condemned cannot tolerate that state of affairs for very long and search for a way to find themselves cleared of all charges.

One way to do this is to confess your sins in the broad of day and throw your lot in with the Son of God who saves (1 John 1:8-10). The other way is to confess the sins of others in order to be comparatively more justifiable. The one is justification said and done, once for all and fully delivered; the other is justification maybe, it depends, and if at all, only for the moment. 

In order to be justified, we will be forced to confess our sins or forced to confess the sins of others. The former is accompanied by sincere repentance and eternal salvation whereas the latter is accompanied by manufactured guilt and constant condemnation.

Only Jesus can set one free. Justification will be sought because sin is real. We are not cleansed of our sins by the sins of others. We can, perhaps, justify our bad behavior by pointing to the worse behavior of others, but that won't fly if the standard is good behavior... and it is.

Romans 3:10

There is none righteous, no, not one.

Our only hope to measure up is righteousness applied, not achieved. In other words, we need the righteousness of someone else given to us where we could not grab it for ourselves or from someone else. Our only hope for our missed marks is the substitutionary atonement of someone else receiving the marks.

Isaiah 53:5

He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

We need to be something we can't become and we need someone to take away what is too heavy for us to bear. So, Christ did.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

day no. 16,212: jumping on the sland wagon

Ephesians 4:31

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

It is easy to jump on the sland wagon. Everyone else is always doing it. It is easy to speak negatively about people who aren't around and it is even easier to agree with someone who is slandering someone who isn't there. Once that dollar bill gets put into circulation, it's off to the races. Put away all slander. Stop running your mouth and run the race set before you, sidestepping the ordinary sins that so easily entangle and trip people up. 

day no. 14,958: slander is confessing the sins of others

Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Slander is using your mouth to run someone else down because you think they are delinquent in confessing their own sins. In your kindness, you take it upon yourself to confess their sins for them. This benevolence is entirely unChristian. Paul here equates it with bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and malice. It is the fruit of bitter roots, the equivalent of vengeance, is fueled by the anger of man, aims at filling peaceful air with loud noises and desires to tear down rather than build up. It is not for the benefit of the other person that you confess their sins. You are not confessing on their behalf so that they might go free, you are openly confessing their sins in order to enslave them and bind them to them, to identify them by the sins.

This is NOT how God in Christ identifies you! In Christ, He looks for ways to be kind. You are commanded to now do the same for those you may be tempted to be embittered toward, anxious to take vengeance upon, etc...