pressed down, shaken together, running over

"Judge not, and you will not be judged;

condemn not, and you will not be condemned;

forgive, and you will be forgiven;

give, and it will be given to you.

Good measure,

pressed down, shaken together, running over,

will be put into your lap.

For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

~Jesus Christ

Luke 6:37,38

I don't know the road that you have traveled to arrive where you are in this moment. 

I don't know the measure of injustice, the degree of hurt or the enormity of grief that you have been given. 

It is easy to read verses like these and feel as though they are simply not true. As we receive what is spoken by the very mouth of our Savior, we try to reconcile them to what we know as truth and common occurance. We hear forgiveness in exchange for our forgiveness. We hear reciprocation when in response to our generosity. We hear no condemnation for our willingness to overlook hurt. Then, taking what we hear, we look at our lives and see that in many ways, it is easy to disagree. 

We see the forgiveness offered and yet the hurt continues. 

We see the condemnation of others in spite of our attempts to live a life of love. 

We see the measure we have used toward others and it just doesn't seem to jive with the measure we have been given in return. 

Was Jesus promising something that He had no intention of fulfilling? 

There are a lot of things I don't know and will never know this side of heaven, 

but there are a few things I do. 

I do know that God's Word will not return void. 

I do know that if Jesus said it, we can believe it. 

When we read these verses we can not interpret them as they relate to other sinful humans and their flawed human responses to our desires to live a life pleasing to the Lord. 

These verses go far beyond the sinful nature of earth and apply wholly to the righteous nature of God. If we want to be the recipients of the all consuming forgiveness of God, we must be willing to forgive and deny our 'right' to hurt and validation. 

If we want to escape the condemnation and judgement of God, then we too must lay aside judgement and condemnation of others. 

When we begin to see ourselves through the eyes of Christ we will become more aware of our need for grace more than ever. As a result, we will also begin to see others the way Christ sees them and our response will be that of forgiveness, generosity, mercy and love. 

As a result, 

good measure, 

pressed down, shaken together and running over

will fill our lives and free us to be the people that God is calling us to be

in spite of the hurt, 

in spite of the injustice

 and in spite of the pain. 

These things will no longer characterize our lives.

Rather, our lives will be characterized by the way Christ loved us and they way we love others in response to the gift of love that we ourselves have received. 

Blessings. 

<><tce