2006-Jun-7 - Todays Devotional
Tit for Tat
Author: Elisabeth Elliot
He that would have friends must show himself friendly.
If you sow sparingly, you will get a scant harvest.
This is the way things generally work. There is another verse which falls into the same category but which, being sometimes interpreted as a command instead of a description, has led to confusion. "Pass no judgment and you will not be judged" (Mt 7:2 NEB). Jesus was not promising an escape from divine judgment for those who refrain from making judgments on others, nor was he asking us to suspend our critical faculties. He was simply pointing out the responsibility we assume when we judge. To say, for example, "Don't lie," or "Lying is a sin," is to lay oneself open to scrutiny in this matter. Do I lie? Is it sin for me? Be careful. Jesus said, "As you judge others, so you will yourselves be judged, and whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to you" (Mt 7:1, 2 NEB). A willingness to submit to the same moral law by which we judge is the rerequisite for judgment.
In a time when every man does that which is right in his own eyes (or at least "feels good") it is no wonder we prefer to interpret Jesus' words as a command: "Judge not." We thus absolve ourselves of responsibility for making any moral distinctions in the behavior of others or of ourselves. "If I don't call what they do 'sin,' they can't call what I do 'sin.'"
This is comfortable for both of us. If I let him keep his "speck," he'll let me keep my "plank."
Jesus commanded us to remove both--the plank first, then the brother's speck. Submit, in other words, to treatment. Accept the consequences. To be judged is the consequence of judging, and to recognize one's own need is prerequisite.
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