Monday: Don’t judge others, or you will be judged. You will be judged in the same way that you judge others, and the amount you give to others will be given to you. Matthew 7:1-2 (NLT) Reflection: So today we reach the part of the sermon on the mount where Jesus talks about judgment. Why now? Why wait til almost the end to bring up judgment, self righteousness & superiority? I think it’s because if you ever get the stuff Jesus talks about at the beginning of the sermon on the mount (anger, lust, lying, worry, forgiveness, etc.) under control then another more subtle problem will crop up. You’ll start to feel pretty good about yourself. You’ll start looking down at people who are still struggling with the things God has helped you overcome. It’s like they say, there’s nothing a smoker hates more than a former smoker who quit. And so Jesus brings up judgment. What does Jesus mean when He says, “don’t judge” you might ask. Well... I think there are times Jesus is cryptic and hard to read but this isn’t one of them. What He means is, don’t judge. I’ve mentioned many times that when I first started getting serious about actually doing what Jesus says I memorized the sermon on the mount. When I got to chapter 7 I was a little loopy. That’s A LOT of material to commit to memory (at least it is for me). And I was memorizing out of the New King James version of the Bible. I still remember trying to memorize this passage. Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you judge you will be judged. Pretty soon “judge” started to sound like a made up word. Go ahead and try it. Say “judge” about a hundred times and see if it doesn’t start to lose its meaning. But don’t let it lose its meaning. This is a pretty important one. If you read the gospels closely you’ll notice the only people Jesus routinely gets into it with are the Pharisees. He’s constantly going after them. Not because they are constantly breaking the letter of God’s law. They were pretty much flawless and the external observance of God’s Law. They always did the externally “right” thing to do. So why was Jesus always letting them have it? Judgment. The Pharisees judged anyone who struggled with the things they were good at. And Jesus couldn’t stand it. This week we’ll look in detail at what Jesus has to say about judgment but for today just think about the concept of judgment and what kind of damage it does. Prayer: Father, open my eyes to the areas I’m tempted to judge other people and remind me every time I start to feel superior to someone else. In Jesus Name, amen.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 07:43:25 +0000
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