Luke 6:37 ¶ Judge not, and
ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive,
and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and
it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and
running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye
mete withal it shall be measured to you again. 39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the
blind lead the blind? shall they not both
fall into the ditch? 40 The
disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his
master. 41 And why beholdest thou the
mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine
own eye? 42 Either how canst thou say to
thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou
thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast
out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the
mote that is in thy brother’s eye. 43
For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For
every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor
of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that
which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for
of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not
the things which I say? 47 Whosoever
cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom
he is like: 48 He is like a man which
built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the
flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake
it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a
foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat
vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
Verses 37 and 38 show
us something of the nature of the judgment awaiting the followers of Christ,
who it appears shall be judged by the same leniency or severity, mercy or self-righteousness,
that they judged others by. We are warned elsewhere.
James 2:13 For he shall
have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
To render benevolence
to others is an important trait that Christ commands we are to express.
Proverbs 19:17 He that hath
pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which
he hath given will he pay him again.
The person who does not
understand or accept the basic fundamentals of Christ’s will for the believer
is like a blind person trying to lead someone who is blind. Both will stumble.
We are to be like Christ, He says.
In keeping with these
thoughts the question arises of why, when we have our own glaring faults and
transgressions are we so intent on nitpicking other people’s faults? Be
concerned with your own sins first before you go off on others about theirs.
Before we can examine
the sins of someone else we must look to our own. I mentioned Galatians 5 in
the last passage and a born-again person produces that fruit. How can we hope,
with a bitter, self-righteous, and judgmental heart to produce the fruit that
Christ wants for us?
Christ finishes in this
passage with an analogy to building a house with a foundation on solid ground
or on soft soil. These passages have been ripped out of context and misused so
many times to justify a pastor’s desire for control or a political agenda that
it is sickening. Look at the context of the entire passage and see what Christ
is trying to get across to His followers as to what He expects from them. This
is the solid rock on which Christ’s Christian religion is based. It is not
about the respect you think you deserve, your desire for vengeance, a pathological
fear of not having your manhood affirmed, or any other selfish desire you feel.
It is about Christ. Would it be so that more conservative Christians would put
self, paranoia, bigotry, and fear aside and trust and obey the one who created
them.
No comments:
Post a Comment