Matthew 7:1-3 (New International Version)

1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

Jesus is our standard! We are what we are purely by the grace of God. According to John 15:5 apart from God we can do nothing. Each of us is where we are at on our journey purely by the grace of God. We are all at different levels of our journey, and God accepts and loves each of us individually where we are at on the way to where we are going.

If we think we are perfect in and of ourselves, all we have to do is look at Romans 7:7-21 where we saw the impossible battle Paul had with sin without factoring Christ in his heart. We think we are OK until we check with our mirror (the Bible), and we realise we are falling far short of the mark. In fact the Bible is very clear in Romans 3:23 and in 1John 1:8-9 it says just that:

Romans 3:23 (New International Version)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

1 John 1:8-9 (New International Version)

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

We are not without sin, but if we are born again, we are not without Christ either as Paul answers his dilemma:

Romans 7:24-25 (New International Version)

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 8:1-2 (New International Version)

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Though the law is still there, we have a higher law. As Christ, our standard, lives in us we can let Him be our law. If we are in intimate relationship with Jesus, He will clean our hearts and He will give us direction through the leading of the Holy Spirit who is our teacher.

Galatians 5:18 (New International Version)

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

My prayer is that we would all love each other where we are at, on the way to where we are going and that we would have Christ’s love and compassion in our hearts for each other, knowing that we all have personal tests and trials and that we are all His children, and that to Him we are all loved beyond our understanding because Christ died for all to be saved.

  1. Why should we not judge?
  2. Why should we not compare with each other?
  3. Why are those living in Christ not condemned?