Do Not Condemn

Meeting life with an eternal perspective requires viewing life from God’s perspective. Blessed are you poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, reviled for the sake of Christ. In heaven you will enjoy the kingdom, fullness, joyful laughter, and the loving acceptance and reward of the Father Himself. Anybody can love those who love them. God loves, with kindness, the unthankful and evil; He is merciful. (Luke 6:2-35) Eph. 2:4-5 reveals, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Eph. 2:13 reminds us, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”(NKJV) God has come from heaven to earth to the grave and back to show us His abundant grace and mercy, to pay our debt, and to give us a place with Him in eternity. From God’s perspective, how should we respond to being forgiven so much, to being loved so much, to being released from so much debt? Luke 6:36 “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” Be merciful, treat others as you would hope to be treated, letting others fail without suffering your condemnation, remembering your own deep need for God’s patience and mercy. Jesus made this abundantly clear in Matt. 6:15, “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Lord, clear the blindness from our eyes that we might give to others as you have so graciously given to us. Amen.