Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
August 16, 2024
Matthew 7:1-5
1 “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 You’ll receive the same judgment you give. Whatever you deal out will be dealt out to you. 3 Why do you see the splinter that’s in your brother’s or sister’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when there’s a log in your eye? 5 You deceive yourself! First take the log out of your eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s or sister’s eye.
Good Morning! This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Judging others is such a part of our psyche. As Christians, we know it is not our place to judge, but it seems to just be swimming around in our brains. We even start sentences with words like, “I don’t mean to judge, but . . . and then we say what we see as odd, different, or even “wrong” in our opinion.
Another layer of this issue is whether or not thinking it is the same as saying it.
What is it that makes us look for and evaluate others? If only we could be like Jesus and see past those outer coverings that differentiate us from others. God made us in his image and yet we are flawed.
In Wesley’s layers of grace, we work towards mature faith as we move through justifying grace into sanctifying grace. During this process, we are learning and gleaning the wisdom that allows perfecting grace to begin to develop.
We must continue to pray for God’s grace and mercy to see ourselves and others as God sees us. We are all God’s beautiful children!
Faithful God, Thank you for creating us. Oh, what a silly group of children we can be. We seem to need to compare ourselves to others. Help us accept instead of judging. Thank you! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: What small action can we take to make the world a better place?
Focus on our similarities, not our differences! Pastor Liz
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