ASKING, SEEKING, AND KNOCKING
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
Throughout the last several blogs I have been covering some of the teachings of Jesus that he shared at his sermon on the mount that is found in the book of Matthew 5:-7:. Within this discussion we find Jesus speaking to the idea of criticizing and judging others. This is an area that most of us are guilty of having to deal with on a daily basis. It isn't so much the idea of using judgment on situations or circumstances that cause the problem, but when we focus our judgments on people it most often becomes more of a personal attack than it does a discernment of right and wrong.
Jesus spoke to the concept of judgment in a different way, he didn't really say that we should not judge the right or the wrong of the situation, but we should use the same kind of judgment on others then we use on ourselves. If indeed we were to judge others with the same judgment that we wish to be judge with much of the retaliation seen in this world would be changed. We have all heard it said that we should not judge or we will be judged, which is a completely wrong interpretation of that Scripture. The truth is that we all will be judged, and we will all be called on to judge in some way all that we see around us. The important thing to realize is that in our judgment we should see things clearly and without the influence of any obstruction from seeing all of the facts. In other words we should get the plank out of our own eye before we try to help someone else get a speck of dust that theirs.
It is very easy in today's society to make snap judgments of what we see before we have all the facts, and I have seen many cases were such judgments have been made before people have understood the situation behind the circumstance they see. It is very important that we take the time to find out as much as we can before making a judgment on an individual as well is on the circumstance we find. If we do not then we run the risk of being hypocritical.
There is a very strong part of who we are that seeks to protect ourselves from our own judgment. Jesus tells us to examine our own motives at our own conduct instead of judging others. I think it's interesting that the traits that tend to bother us in other people are very often the same habits that we dislike and ourselves. It is our untamed bad habits and behavior patterns that we often want changed the most in other people. Let me ask you a question, is it easy for you to magnify someone else's faults while at the same time being able to excuse your own? If you are quick to criticize others it might be wise to check to see if you deserve the same criticism by using your judgment on cell first'and then you will be able to lovingly forgive and judge others. There are many times when we get mixed up concerning what Jesus actually taught in Scripture, as an example we read in
Matthew 7:7 "ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks; receives he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Jesus tells us to persist in pursuing after God. People often give up after a few halfhearted efforts and conclude that God cannot be found. But no that God takes faith, focus, and follow through, and Jesus assures us that we will be rewarded. Don't give up in your efforts to see God. Continue to ask him for more knowledge, patience, wisdom, love, and understanding; I know that God give them to you. The fact really is that we don't seek after God long enough, or hard enough to really see results. If we stop and think about it for a moment if we had someone making a claim that they believed in us and wanted our help, but put in the amount of effort that we have made in seeking after God or would our attitude be toward helping them? When we begin to think about our relationship with God in this manner; when we put our own human emotions in place of what we expect from God things tend to change a little. Even though we are imperfect we still have the same emotions as God, and therefore we should be able to understand how he feels about what we do and say in response to his love. There is a lot to be said about those who claim to love, or to know God and yet find it difficult or impossible to live their lives in such a way that would please God. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Throughout the last several blogs I have been covering some of the teachings of Jesus that he shared at his sermon on the mount that is found in the book of Matthew 5:-7:. Within this discussion we find Jesus speaking to the idea of criticizing and judging others. This is an area that most of us are guilty of having to deal with on a daily basis. It isn't so much the idea of using judgment on situations or circumstances that cause the problem, but when we focus our judgments on people it most often becomes more of a personal attack than it does a discernment of right and wrong.
Jesus spoke to the concept of judgment in a different way, he didn't really say that we should not judge the right or the wrong of the situation, but we should use the same kind of judgment on others then we use on ourselves. If indeed we were to judge others with the same judgment that we wish to be judge with much of the retaliation seen in this world would be changed. We have all heard it said that we should not judge or we will be judged, which is a completely wrong interpretation of that Scripture. The truth is that we all will be judged, and we will all be called on to judge in some way all that we see around us. The important thing to realize is that in our judgment we should see things clearly and without the influence of any obstruction from seeing all of the facts. In other words we should get the plank out of our own eye before we try to help someone else get a speck of dust that theirs.
It is very easy in today's society to make snap judgments of what we see before we have all the facts, and I have seen many cases were such judgments have been made before people have understood the situation behind the circumstance they see. It is very important that we take the time to find out as much as we can before making a judgment on an individual as well is on the circumstance we find. If we do not then we run the risk of being hypocritical.
There is a very strong part of who we are that seeks to protect ourselves from our own judgment. Jesus tells us to examine our own motives at our own conduct instead of judging others. I think it's interesting that the traits that tend to bother us in other people are very often the same habits that we dislike and ourselves. It is our untamed bad habits and behavior patterns that we often want changed the most in other people. Let me ask you a question, is it easy for you to magnify someone else's faults while at the same time being able to excuse your own? If you are quick to criticize others it might be wise to check to see if you deserve the same criticism by using your judgment on cell first'and then you will be able to lovingly forgive and judge others. There are many times when we get mixed up concerning what Jesus actually taught in Scripture, as an example we read in
Matthew 7:7 "ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks; receives he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Jesus tells us to persist in pursuing after God. People often give up after a few halfhearted efforts and conclude that God cannot be found. But no that God takes faith, focus, and follow through, and Jesus assures us that we will be rewarded. Don't give up in your efforts to see God. Continue to ask him for more knowledge, patience, wisdom, love, and understanding; I know that God give them to you. The fact really is that we don't seek after God long enough, or hard enough to really see results. If we stop and think about it for a moment if we had someone making a claim that they believed in us and wanted our help, but put in the amount of effort that we have made in seeking after God or would our attitude be toward helping them? When we begin to think about our relationship with God in this manner; when we put our own human emotions in place of what we expect from God things tend to change a little. Even though we are imperfect we still have the same emotions as God, and therefore we should be able to understand how he feels about what we do and say in response to his love. There is a lot to be said about those who claim to love, or to know God and yet find it difficult or impossible to live their lives in such a way that would please God. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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