Matthew 7

I was studying Matthew 7 with our youth last evening. We discussed the "plank removal" and we discussed the idea of judging our fellow man when we have this huge plank in our eye. As we were talking it occurred to me that the passage is much more than about not judging others. When I read verse 2, it really struck me what Jesus was saying, " For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." By what standard would we like to judge. Its ironic that we would say as a Christian that we would only want God to judge us, while not realizing that He has the most insight as to the intent of our heart. Do we really want Him judging is? I mean in "real life" is it not better to have our fellow man judge us, after all we can fake them out, we can "pretend " to be something we are not and then the judgement we receive , we actually fabricate. The problem is when this is the standard by which we choose to be judged or understood, we find ourselves constantly misunderstood. So we have to reinvent ourselves or default into apathy. What if the standard by which we were judged were God. What if the "measure was God himself. What would this look like? Yes, its dangerous. Why would I say that? Well, God is the only one who knows the true intentions and condition of our heart. When He is our standard, we can not be misunderstood. Who better to judge us than the one who, " knows the depths of our hearts, and loves us the same. " I choose to live for God, not the approval of man. He knows me and , and as long as I seek Him and Him alone, what else could I want for?

Now onto the judging others part. Scripture does not say that we should not judge period. Jesus just informs us that the "measure" by which we do so will be the same measure by which we are also judged. What if we looked at others and understood that we could never truly understand their hearts. What would we do then. " You Got it" We would pray for them and allow the One who truly knows them to speak to them and change their hearts. By the way, at that point, He may show us our true selves.

As the youth and I discussed, God's standard is way to high for us to reach on our own. Jesus knew that, and that is why He came down to earth to not lower the standard, but to lift us up to a position of righteousness. How encouraging is it to know, for me at least, that God has never lowered His standard for me, but has judged me based on the perfection and sacrifice of Jesus.

What if we looked at people that same way? Would our hearts break for them? Would we pray more honestly for His passion ? Just some thoughts !