36 JUDGEMENT AND GENEROSITY F O O T ================================

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READING

36 JUDGEMENT AND GENEROSITY

PRAY Thank you Father for the Scriptures – for their inspiration by you and their usefulness to me. —————————————————————- READ Matthew 7:1-12. —————————————————————- THINK What does this passage teach about prayer? —————————————————————- FOCUS JUDGING (1-6). You won’t live long if you don’t exercise your judgement. (How fast is that car moving? Can I cross the road in time?) You need to decide about actions. (But that’s really stealing – that can’t be right!) In these verses Jesus is warning us not against exercising judgement, but against a judgemental attitude that delights in finding fault in others (1,2). God is the only one who can pass a final verdict on a person’s life or character. When we do so we are attempting to take God’s place, and storing up judgement against ourselves (2). Rather we should judge ourselves (3-5). Jesus pokes fun at the person who criticises without being aware of his own faults. We must also judge situations (6). There are times, says Jesus, when we should even keep quiet about the gospel. People may increase their sin by jeering at truths about his birth, death, resurrection and return. GIVING (7-12). Parents gave their children whatever was needed. (Not a flat stone instead of bread, or a snake instead of an eel- like dried fish.) Our heavenly Father is better, not worse, than human parents. When we ask him for what we need we can be sure that he is ready to respond. When we ‘ask, seek, knock’, we are not trying to rouse someone who is grudging and hostile, but speaking to a Father ‘whose love is as great as his power’. How do you think God defines ‘good things’ (11) —————————————————————- PRAY Thank you, Lord, for all you give me. Help me to give as well as take. ==========