Luke 6 - The Eye of Scrutiny

Jesus said, 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. 38Give, 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."

Wow, what a message! How quick we are to judge others, to point out their failures and every fault, BUT somewhere along the line, we fail to look at ourselves with that same scrutiny. We tend to take OTHERS’ actions and blame them on the PERSON. “well, she should know better than that, she’s not really trying, she doesn’t care”. However, when the SAME instance happens to US, we blame the CIRCUMSTANCE. “I tried my best but NO ONE could have done it, if I had MORE HELP, MORE TIME, or a BETTER SYSTEM, I could have made it happen”. Hmm, any of this sound familiar?

That is the cycle we have to break. As the scripture says, we will be measured by the measure we use. If we give freely, forgive easily, judge lightly, then we too will be given to freely, forgiven easily and judged lightly. However, if we are quick to condemn, stingy with our blessings, and refuse to forgive, then we too will be condemned, unforgiven and left wanting.

So the next time you see those in need, instead of judging and scrutinizing their actions, honestly put yourself in their position and lend a helping hand, treat them how YOU would want to be treated, NOT how you THINK they should be. And, the next time you are in a bad situation, before you start “explaining” off the circumstances, examine the situation to see if you are looking for a “pity party” or if you could have done something better. We ALL make mistakes, NO ONE but Jesus was perfect. The more we realize that, the better we can all get a long, join together, and focus on HIM, not on us. Amen?