January 27, 2025 Morning Devotional

Morning Devotion: Read Luke -  When Judging Others

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.

Does the bible really tell us we cannot judge one another?

Matthew 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

We need to judge for without judgment wickedness would do unpunished, sin would run rampant and lives would be in jeopardy. Without judgment there would be chaos. We judge people, situations and circumstances if for no other reason to protect ourselves and loved ones.

People love to lean back on the phrase, “judge not” without reading the context. Context is so important.

The context here is that judgment must first begin with you. You  must first judge yourself before you judge others.

In the book of Luke and Mathew, the context speaks of the false judgment, judging others in a hypocritical way.

Most of the time others are judged by our standards rather than God’s standards. When we judge others by our standards we always make ourselves look good and the others look bad for we think we are always better.

As we read the text we find that we find the most tiny flaw in others yet we have huge flaws in ourselves that we cannot see. It is called a beam of fault. The others have a mote or a tiny bit of fault and that is made into a giant issue rather than recognizing our own unrighteousness.

Romans 2:1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

Romans 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

If and when you judge, judge according to the word of God. The word of God will point out your flaws first. Then correct yourself, remove the major flaw from yourself, “the beam”, before you judge others and their spec or sliver of fault. Personally, I don’t believe you will get past self assessment before you drop the issue with others. For, in the light of God’s righteousness, you will see yourself unworthy to judge.

Philippians 2:3  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

John 7:24  Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

The choice is still yours,

Pastor Cook