Matthew 7:1 Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

      The hardest measurement to live up to is the one we create for others. We tend to set impossible standards for others while lacking the courage and ability to live up to those standards ourselves. Our hypocrisy can feed our egos to look down upon others and categorize them as less – than others. Sometimes, we are fearful and unwilling to face the truth of who we are, therefore, we judge others to distract from the inadequacies we feel are missing in our lives. Matt. 26:41 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. For selfish reasons, we create these unattainable standards to deflect scrutiny and ensure no one is looking closely at our souls. Matt. 23:24 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. By focusing on someone else’s squeaky wheel, we hide behind the noises we create for others.

      The Apostle John wrote his letter to Gaius, a leader of a church in Asia Minor because of an inflated ego problem with one of the ministers. 3John 1:9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. John’s teachings of love were clear concerning the grace that was to be given to one another. However, Diotrephes was having none of it. He wanted church done his way and under his rules. A question that could be asked about Diotrephes is, What was he covering up in his soul that he needed to hide behind the malicious prating that was destroying the character of others?” Diotrephes had created a hard measurement for others but could not live up to it himself, and John called him out.

       Paul confronted those who were in this similar battle of the soul. Rom. 2:21 Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? Many were teaching the laws of righteousness but were not following through on the teachings themselves. It is easy to dispense advice and explain rules for behaviour, but oh so hard to follow one’s advice. The Lord makes it plain in His Word that we need to remove our hypocrisy in the judgment of others so that we see clearly to help where we can. Matt. 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

       We need to train our hearts to live by the measurements we place on others. This can only be done through washing and obeying the Word of God. Obeying the Word that God has set out for us to follow can be difficult if we only give lip service to it. We have all heard people who only talk about going to the gym, but never show up. Then some don’t need to talk about it, they show up regularly at the gym and get the workout done. It is the difference between arriving on time for an appointment you made and showing up late with a ready list of excuses that you tend to draw on because you are undisciplined. Training our hearts to live and minister through God’s righteousness is far greater than organizing people’s lives through our unreasonable standards of self-righteousness.

       If we truly understood the severity of the words Jesus spoke when he declared how we would be judged if we judged others with an unrighteous judgment, we would stop and consider ourselves before we made such judgments. In Matt. 7:2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. The very standards and measurements that we use on others are the standards and criteria that will be used in our life’s doings. If you are a harsh and merciless person and judge in that manner, then back at you on that day of reckoning. Oh, how wonderful is the blood that cleanses us from the sin of judging. What an amazing gift of salvation the Lord has given us so that we can be saved from our pitiable selves. Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

       Let us put away the hard measurements we place on others and focus on handing our shortcomings over to God for His restorative work to take precedence in our souls. The Lord’s gift of salvation gives us the power to do so. However, we have to want to be walking in the forthrightness of God’s righteousness, and not in self-righteousness which always leads to dysfunction and harsh judgments. It is odd that when we judge others critically, we simultaneously judge ourselves with our lips. Isa. 6:5a And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

       The Apostle Paul felt this dilemma in his deepest soul and said it plainly, Rom. 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Only Jesus our Lord can transform our hearts into new ones so that we declare grace and mercy from them. It is through the Holy Spirit that we will learn to judge righteously and to do it with the grace of the Lord that He has lavished on our lives. Only Jesus within us can overcome the hard measurements of life. Help me Lord, to judge myself, using Your Word before I judge someone else.