DAY #99: Luke 6:37-7:10

Believers must be discerning and make certain judgments. Jesus was referring to the judgmental attitude that focuses on others’ faults, criticizing and tearing them down. The believers’ special position with Christ does not give them license to take God’s place as judge. Those who judge in that manner will find themselves judged by God. Neither should they criticize or they will face criticism. The practice of forgiveness leads also to forgiveness by God. Those who refuse to forgive show that they do not understand what God has done for them. God’s children must be ready and willing to forgive, just as God has forgiven them.

How well Jesus understood human nature. He knew that human beings find it easy to worry about a speck in someone else’s eye, but not be able to see a log in their own eye. It is easy for people to overlook their own sins yet easily spot sin in others. It’s true that the sin that people most clearly see in others is also present in them.

Jesus used hyperbole to show that someone attempting to help a brother or sister with a “speck” when that person is carrying around a “log” makes him or her a hypocrite. The person has criticized and found fault in another without applying the same standards to himself. Before that person can be of any assistance, he must first get rid of the log that is in his own eye, and then maybe he can see well enough to deal with the speck in the other person’s eye.

With a couple of proverbs derived from the agricultural setting of ancient Israel, Jesus showed his audience why hypocritically judging others is foolish. Just as a good tree will eventually bear good fruit, so a person’s heart will eventually bear fruit—a good heart producing good works and an evil heart bringing forth evil. Everyone’s heart will eventually be exposed for what it is; and a strong indicator of the character of a person’s heart is what one says.What is in the heart will come out in a person’s speech and behavior.

Jesus was not content with letting his audience ponder his profound thoughts. His teaching is not meant for academic discussion and debate. Instead, Christians should build their entire lives around his teachings, applying them to every facet of life. If they don’t, they will not be able to withstand the pressures and temptations of this world and will be swept away to their destruction. Jesus calls believers to take the time they have now—before the floodwaters come—to reevaluate the way they live in light of his teachings.

Jesus explained that his true followers were like a person who builds a house on a strong foundation laid upon the underlying rock. In contrast is the person who listens and doesn’t obey. While both of these people may have built houses that looked identical, the crucial difference was in the foundation. The person who won’t listen to Jesus will be like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house it cannot stand firm. The sand beneath the house will be driven away and the house will crumble into a heap of ruins. As character is revealed by fruit, so faith is revealed by storms. The wise person, seeking to act upon God’s word, builds to withstand anything.

The animosity between the Jews and the Romans was no secret. The Jews hated the occupation army; the Romans, in turn, hated the Jews. Yet in this next story we find a different sort of Roman soldier—a man who seems to have been a God-fearing man. He loved the Jewish people, and he built a synagogue (meaning that he funded it and certainly had genuine interest in it and the God worshiped there).

Jesus responded to the request brought by the Jewish elders who represted this Roman soldier and went with them. Just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent another message by way of some friends, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home . . . Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.”

The officer was accustomed both to obeying and to being obeyed. He may have understood that Jesus’ power and authority came from God. When Jesus spoke, God spoke. Jesus did not need rituals or medicines or even his touch or presence to accomplish a healing. The officer applied his understanding of authority to Jesus. Luke did not even record another word spoken by Jesus, but emphasized that the officer’s faith had been well placed. The officer’s friends returned to his house and found the slave completely healed.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Lord, remove any semblance of a critical spirit, negative attitude, slander, gossip, backbiting, haughtiness from life life and heart. Give me a greater heart than ever to help people and come alongside of people. Give a greater heart to teach Your ways and Your principles for living. Give me patience and a long-suffering attitude with those who are a little slow on the uptake to "get it." Remind daily of Your patience with me - of Your forgiveness of all I have done wrong - of Your mercy and grace. Lord, help me extend to others the same grace, love, kindness, forgiveness, and mercy to others.

Build that attitude and spirit at COV. Remove the dross. Remove the fake, the piety, the self-importance and replace it with tenderness and humility and servant hood.