With the Measure You Use

Good morning :) It is Wednesday, April 21, 2021.

I am re-reading Jesus Over Everything by Lisa Whittle. One of her chapters is titled "Love Over Judgement."

I think it is safe to say we have all sat in the judgement seat. We judge and we have been judged. The latter is harder to swallow. It is human nature, but God cautions us not to judge.

Matthew 7:1-5 ESV says it pretty plainly "“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

That certainly can be easier said than done. I think it would be safe to say we have all been let down by someone in our lives. We have all been hurt. We have had friends come and go, but there is no friend like Jesus. He is the one constant in our lives if we let Him.

Luke said it a little more plainly...it is conditional. I do not want to be judged or condemned and I certainly want forgiveness.

Luke 6:37 ESV “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven."

Lisa writes "There is no one safer than Jesus. No worry of betrayal, no worry He will turn His back and walk away. He's never told a thing I've told Him. He's never been absent when I needed Him most. We may never feel safe with anyone else, but we can always feel safe with Jesus."

She goes on to say "...as we learn from Him, we will love people when we make them feel safe with us...when people know that we are that corner of refuge in from the storm...they will feel safe."

It doesn't take much to be kind. But it is a choice. It doesn't take much not to gossip, but it is a choice. You have a choice how to use your words. We all have a choice...do we make someone's day or do we break them?

That old saying "Do unto others as you would have done unto you"...that's is straight from the Bible: "And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." - Luke 6:31

You take a chance when you open your heart to people, but it is a chance worth taking.

In “The Four Loves” by CS Lewis he writes “To love at all is to be vulnerable, Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

Go ahead, be vulnerable and love people the way Christ loves us. There is no more precious gift than love and we when we love, truly love, we do not judge.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 ESV "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful..."

Have a blessed day and remember, Jesus is coming soon!