Judge and Be Judged

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

JUDGE AND BE JUDGED

Luke 6:37-38

37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 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." 

NIV

If there is one thing that is true is that we are not to judge one another, that is we are not to make a judgment if someone else has sinned. Although, it is true that Jesus said, according to Matthew's account that if a brother sins against us we should go to them privately and settle the matter. But that is someone who commits a sin against us. We are not sure what would constitute a sin against us would be. But the point here is that Jesus is very straightforward about not judging another person, not looking to find someone committing a sin and then either going to them and condemning their actions as sinful, or simply making a secret judgment in our hearts against them, holding a form of contempt against them because it would seem they are getting away with their sin and nobody else cares or sees their sinful ways. What we have to consider is how do we want to be judged by God? Therefore, that is how we should be judging others.  If we want to be judged by the righteousness of Christ, which is declared holy and blameless in the eyes of God, then we should see all other believers as holy and blameless in the eyes of God. Yes, we all still have some sin in our lives, of course. Have we developed levels of sin, that some are more grievous than others? Over the years we have changed some of them, based on our culture. When first became a believer many years ago, we were given a list, at least a verbal list, of actions that were considered sinful, drinking, smoking, dancing, going to movies, roller rinks, and a few other things, of which over the years we have those taboos or supposed sins, melt away, or at least been revised. The problem with all that type of sin is that is it based on man’s judgment, and not on the word of God. Therefore, we should not make judgments based on what we think, and simply let God make all judgment. Once again the basic underlining truth; How do we want God to judge us? That is the way we are to judge others.