Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 312

November 13;      Matthew 7:1;      7/260;      ‘Never Judge’

Matthew 7:1  "Judge not, that you be not judged.

Did you ever mistakenly judge someone that you didn’t really know?  And, then when you got to know them, feel badly realizing you had no idea what was going on in their lives? ‘Circumstances’ in a person’s life often manifest in various ways, and many of them negatively. All of us have things in our lives that another could judge. We always appreciate it when others treat us kindly, without being judgmental.  Jesus told us not to judge anyone. If anyone could judge us, it is the Lord Jesus. He chose not to. His love always thinks the best of us and the Lord Jesus always sees us through the eyes of faith, being strong spiritually and fulfilling everything He created us to do and be. What a wonderful and freeing way to live. People tend to live up to the expectations of others. The Lord Jesus ‘expects’ great things out of us.  Kenneth E. Hagin, the founder of the Bible School we attended, use to say, “Don’t judge other people, because you don’t know if you’d be doing half as well as they are, given their same set of circumstances.”  That sort of makes you think! What are we to do? Love others, think the best of them, and refuse to judge them.  We should also pray for them and ask the Lord to help them through the difficult time they are facing.   If we are going to judge anyone, we should judge ourselves and our actions as right or not in the sight of God.  Use the Word of God to direct and correct our own life. Doers of the Word are always blessed and love never fails (I Corinthians 13:8).  Our Lord wants nothing but the best for us and teaches His best in His Word.  Simply obey, trusting Him.