Sunday, March 6, 2016

Listening to the judge

1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Mt. 7)

Thoughts: As consumers, we think that we have the right to decide what we want and how we want it.  This trickles down even to our relationship with God.  We think we can pick which parts of God are right for us.  We become, in effect, the judge of God- whether He is good or not.  Truth is, just as reality rubs up against us, so God rubs up against us.  God is God and we are to listen to Him.  He is our judge and has every right to do so- as our designer- and especially as the One who came to rescue us.
    The warning here is to not judge another because we are answerable to God.  The other part is we tend to forget our own faults when we closely examine the faults of another.  We do tend to minimize our own weaknesses and maximize the weaknesses of others.  Sadly, such judgmentalism destroys relationships.  

Prayer: Lord, help me to be merciful and less judgmental.  Allow me to see my own issues and problems.  Keep me from being critical of others with no self-criticism.  

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