The Slider Rule

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2

Some verses are meant to be experienced with a heavy hand from God as a warning in our lives. There are fewer things in life than the natural tendency to judge the actions of others. We live our lives being a set of balance scales with fulcrums and weight pans as we judge others against our own lives. We load our pan with our own righteousness, heavy on the judgment of others while their pan of unworthiness will never be equal against ours. In precision balances, a slider weight is moved along a graduated scale. The slider position gives a fine correction to the weight value.

Christ is our slider as He determines a better balance for our lives adjusting and aligning our hearts to better approach our view of others and ourselves. He knows that our natural tendency is to be the judge, jury and executioner when dealing with others.

If we do not take steps in guarding our hearts against this tendency we will become off balance in our thinking and out of sorts in our hearts. He will enact the appropriate tension and adjustment in our lives to ensure that our hearts are more balanced on both sides.

The Bible exhorts us to “take every thought captive” and to aspire to the “renewing of our mind.” As the urge to judge others arises, we should remind ourselves of our responsibility to not only remove self-righteousness from our own pan but to place compassion and mercy on the pan of others.

With Christ as our slider, we will be successful in creating that perfect alignment and balance in the scales of life.