Good Measure

“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”  

This part of today’s Gospel reading from Luke is Jesus’ message to us, and it gets to the (his) heart of the matter.  We should not measure people by our own standards that very well might be personal and short-sighted.   Measuring people with a critical and judgmental eye usually leads us to serious mistakes, errors, and sin.   If we are not walking in someone else’s shoes, there is no way to understand their behavior and pain.

We must measure other people with charity and compassion; otherwise, we won’t be measured likewise.  We get what we give – love or a bad measure “poured into our laps.”

Deacon David Pierce