Your Purpose 2: Confession and Other-Compassion

After telling us to love our enemies, to be merciful to others as God has been toward us, Jesus continues in Luke 6:

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. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

…41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

We are told elsewhere in Scripture, by Jesus and others, to be discerning, to be wise, to make good judgments, to know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. Taken together, in context, these verses saying “do not judge” are Jesus saying to us: do not judge unjustly, hypocritically, dishonestly, untruthfully, or deceitfully. He drives the point home by saying that you may have a log in your eye while you are pointing out a mere speck in the eye of another. Aligns quite well with Jesus saying to the rabble out to condemn the woman caught in adultery: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

Not one of us is sinless. We need Jesus’ help to see our own “logs”—the things that blind us to our own imperfections and the things that prevent us from judging justly.

Reflect:

Spend time today in confession—asking God to remove the “log” from your “eye”.

Revel in God’s forgiveness.

To whom can you also extend forgiveness and compassion today?

 Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and leaders in a diversity of fields for over 30 years. She has also been EquipConnectServe Director at her 1,200 member church since 1999.  Contact Shirley.

Photo © Shirley Giles Davis, all rights reserved.