February 17, 2011
Measurement
Either I have been taught, or I’ve let others impress upon me, that if I were to judge another person, God would judge me according to the way I judged. For example, to keep God from condemning me, I should not condemn another. God will forgive me only if I forgive others. Rather than understanding the Scripture to be about my relationship to others, I’ve inserted God into the picture. What Jesus said was, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:37-38 NIV) When I judge others, they can (and will) use the same criteria that I used when judging them. I need to wrap my head around the fact that I’m the one holding the measuring stick…not God.
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2 comments:
Gail;
-----I hadn’t thought of it in that manner. There is some truth to it. People do tend to reflect the attitudes pointed towards them. But watching the left-wing actions in the news is all the observation one needs to see that the principle does not always hold true amongst people.
-----It does with God, though. And maybe the reason this passage is so commonly taken to mean the judgment, condemnation, forgiveness, and generosity you show will return to you from God is because this principle doesn’t always hold true amongst people, the context the passage follows, and that Jesus also directly stated, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Mat 6:14-15)
-----Now that you have mentioned it and I have thought about it in that manner, when I read this passage I see the same thing in it as you have noted. Even though the principle may apply only in generality, it certainly does apply.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Well......I try to live by the rule that with the same judgment that I judge I will also be judged. So I try to remain charitable in my reactions to people and situations.
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