Journal Entry ~ 08/29/19

37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;
38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." - Luke 6:37-38

Judge not, and you will not be judged. I think it's important to recognize that our culture has taken control of the word ‘judge’ and given it a very negative connotation, leading us to believe that all judging is wrong. There are two different ways that the word judging is used in the Bible. Not all judgment is wrong, not all judgment is bad. 

The one way it's used in scripture is as discernment - as in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. In that example, to judge someone is to discern good from evil - we are actually called to do this throughout scripture, specifically within the church. Discerning good from evil is judging, and it is something we are instructed to do as we make decisions about our lives. We are to discern who we spend time with, how we raise our children, how to confronting fellow believers. In fact, if you scroll down just a couple of verses to Luke 6:43-45, you see Jesus teaching on discerning between good and evil as He compares them to trees. 

In this passage, however, judgment refers to condemnation. It is wrong for us to condemn another person, to pass final judgment on them or to declare anyone irretrievably guilty. We don't get to say that some people are acceptable and some people are not, or that some groups of people are higher or better than other people. We all have places in our lives where we judge when we should not - sometimes it's a group of people, sometimes it's a person. We all have a tendency to place ourselves higher than someone else at some point. This is great wickedness. The problem is we don't always see it. Praying this week that God reveals to us where we judge and where we not only need to stop, but where we need to get down on bended knee and ask for forgiveness. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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