OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 18

Mathew chapter 7 verses 1 - 2 record the Lord's teaching on passing judgement on other people.

1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Jesus' counsel to us on this subject is to avoid judging other people altogether because of the hazards that accompany undertaking judgement over other people.

First, if we step up to judge others, we qualifyl ourselves to be judged as well.

Second, when we judge others, our own methodology of judgement will be used to judge us. If, for instance, we discriminate on how we pass judgement based on people's social standing, this bias will be used against us.

Third, the same harshness or severity that we mette out against other people when we sit in judgement over them will be used against us.

The gold standard is not to judge other people but if judgement is forced upon us, we must be as carefull and impartial as possible when examining cases we are adjudicating and we must also be as merciful as we can be.

In the kingdom of God, adherance to the guidance of the Spirit of God on matters of judgement will exempt us from being judges ourselves.

Amen.

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