Measuring Sticks

“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.

How many times have we viewed someone else’s situation through the scope of our own judgment? More times than I care to either remember or admit! This verse was played out in my life during the 8 years of our daughter’s drug addiction.

The judgment began years ago for both me and my husband as I was associated with the family court system through my job and he was a counselor at The Relatives, a home where runaway teens could stay for a temporary amount of time. Through our jobs we had developed a “prejudice” for these kids and their home lives. Many times our judgment was cast upon the parents instead of the teens with little knowledge and regard for what the parents were experiencing.

The measurement of judgment we were under during the “reign of drugs” in our lives for 8 years was unparalleled. God took everything we thought we knew, everything we had judged and everything we had established in our minds as truth and turned them upside down. We were the judged instead of the judge, we were the shunned instead of those who shunned and we were the crumbled instead of the strong.

The importance of having spiritual wisdom free of judgment, while looking into the lives of others, allows us to be more compassionate, more merciful and more like Christ.

The degree of judgment upon us is a direct response from God as we have judged others. We determine the length of our own measuring stick.