April 22 - Matthew 7:1-2

April 22 - Matthew 7:1-2

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

If love is to be the primary factor in your relationships with others, how can you judge their faults without accepting the truth of how your own are seen by the world?

Have you ever noticed that those who make the most profound (and public) judgments on others end up being caught in something either exactly like what they've proclaimed to be so awful or something much worse?

None of us are perfect.  Jesus taught that lesson very graphically when he stopped the community from stoning a woman as he asked, “Who among you has not sinned?”  They were ready to judge her sin, but as soon as Jesus confronted them about their own, they recognized the truth of their own lives.  See, the Law allowed them to stone her for adultery, but when they were made aware of the depths of their own sin, who knows what the Law would have demanded in recompense.

What will it take for you to be made aware of your own errors, mistakes, deliberate sins and issues? Will Jesus have to write in the sand as he did in John 8:1-11? Will he have to stop you from pointing your finger at someone else and remind you that God is more concerned that you pay attention to your own heart and your own motives? How will you … how will I take more responsibility for ourselves and allow God to work in the hearts of others?

Our job is not to judge others, our job is to love them and bring them to know what it means to be saved by God.  One of the greatest parts of salvation is the knowledge that we have sinned against God.  That knowledge comes from God.  He breaks our hearts until we stand before him knowing how much we need to be saved.  If he does that for each person, why do we feel that we have to do that?

He wants us to love, to share love unconditionally, so that when the tough work begins in a person’s heart they know it is worth it because of that love.

Love … not judgment.  Imagine!