No Condemnation

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

NO CONDEMNATION

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

Is there a difference between judging and condemning? Why would Jesus make a point of saying that we should not judge or at least with the measure that we judge other people, that is the measure God will judge us and then say that we should not condemn? When we look into the difference between the two Greek words we get a little more clarity about the differences. When we decide that someone has committed a sin, or judged that they have sinned, it is still not right, for we are looking for the speck in their eye when there is a log in our own eye. We are simply making a judgment about their having sin in their lives, which is not acceptable, but when we condemn then we are pronouncing the fact they are guilty and thus deserve punishment. Is that how we want God to look at our sins? Do we want him to first judge us as sinners and then pronoun that we are in fact guilty and in need of punishment? We know that God sent Jesus to take all our sins and was pronounced guilty and took all our sins to the cross, paying the punishment for our guilt, our sins. So then that is how we are to live in the community of faith, having no judgment and no condemnation toward anyone. The fact is that we desire God to forgive all our sins, and in fact, he has forgiven all our sins, it is a done deal, Jesus took all our sins to the cross. Therefore, we must always forgive any sin anyone in the body of Christ might commit. It is interesting, however, that we are also told that if we do not forgive someone when they sin against us, God will not forgive us when we sin against him. This is the harshness of the truth. When someone hurts our feelings or does some other wrong against us, we must forgive them instantly. Now we are not sure what defines a sin against us, or a wrong against us, but we would have to assume there are certain behaviors or words, that could be considered damaging to our character, like gossiping.  Living in a community of faith is one that should always be guided by love over all other feelings. When we love, we are imitating God, for he so loved us that he gave his only Son so that if we believe in him we will not perish, but have everlasting life. It would make perfect sense that we should act in the same manner as loving others, giving ourselves to them, without judging them, or condemning them in any way whatsoever because we love them. If there is no condemnation to those of us who are in Christ Jesus, then we cannot condemn anyone, but only love them with the love of God.