There is now no condemnation...but if we’re honest, sometimes condemnation feels effective.
In this episode, John Ortberg explores what Dallas Willard called the law of reciprocal condemnation — the almost unbreakable cycle where judgment breeds counter-judgment, attack breeds counter-attack, and anger multiplies itself.
It’s extremely rare, Willard observed, that anyone who is condemned responds by changing in the desired way.
Instead, condemnation produces:
- Counter-condemnation
- Passive aggression
- Perfectionism
- Procrastination
- Rebellion
- Or quiet relational death
Jesus warned about this in the Sermon on the Mount:“As you judge, so you will be judged.”
Not as a threat from God — but as an observation about how relationships work.
So how do we break the cycle?
Paul gives a shocking alternative in Romans 12:Do not repay evil for evil.Leave room for God’s justice.Overcome evil with good.
Justice is real.But it is not ours to manage.
📚 Today's Resources:
Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy
C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer
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