Reading your Bible for Today April 18

April 18: Matthew 7:1-5

KJV Key Verse: Matthew 7:2
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Devotion:
Oh how easy it is to say just how much we know is wrong in someone else's life, or to say just what we think about someone... But how hard we take it when they talk in that same way about us! How easy it is to pick up on what someone else is doing wrong, and yet we ourselves do things wrong without thinking twice about it! You see, we live in a world where we have double standards... everywhere...

Whether we like it or not, we always seem to have a standard by which we think others should live to and then we have the standard by which we think we are allowed to live to. They are different and we are the ones making up the rules; or at least we think we are. We get carried away with the things we do because of those standards, or lack of them. If we were to apply God's standards to our lives, then we would see very quickly just how far we do fall short of a good life. When we realise that, then maybe we will take a step closer to realising how much we do judge others.

Far too often we jump in and say that something is wrong when we ourselves are guilty of that same act. Far too often we accuse someone of doing something when we ourselves are just as guilty. Whilst we should be able to help others by opening their eyes to what is wrong when they do not realise it, we should also open up our ears to those criticisms that come our way when we fall short of the mark.

When it comes time for us to leave our lives behind and face Christ, we are going to have to face up to what we are doing wrong. If we are not willing to forgive those that do things wrong against us, then how do we think that we can be forgiven? We need to get ourselves straight with Christ before we can even think about blaming anyone else for anything!

Points to Ponder:
How easy is it for you to spot others mistakes?

Are you admitting your mistakes to Christ?