Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 6 verses 37 and 38:
37 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’
Today’s Lesson is a call to live and treat others with integrity and not expect grace for ourselves while demanding full-letter-of-the-law justice for others. It seems only fair and logical, yet I’m always baffled by how we judge others in ways we would not wish and could not stand to be judged. It’s like we have two different Bibles — one for ourselves with all the grace and love and prodigal returns parts and one for others with clobber texts and eye for an eye penal codes. We throw the book at others, while begging for pardon for ourselves.
Jesus said the measure we give will be the measure we get. It was a call to live honestly, with integrity, and with greater humility and self-awareness. Justice and judgments are necessary in this world. Society could not function without them. But grace and forgiveness are necessary also. And there ought not to be the latter of these for me and my family, class, race, etc. and only the former for others.
In the end God is the final judge. I wish God to be fair and gracious and too harsh with me; how can I hope for that for myself if I haven’t been the same for others?
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