Matthew 7:1

In Luke 10, Jesus tells us the parable of the good Samaritan. In the story, we see a man get robbed, beaten, and left on the road. Two “godly” men passed him by, yet a Samaritan (a person the Jewish people would have looked down on) took compassion on him. The Samaritan went out of his way to care for the man, even spending his own money to get him a place to rest. Jesus told us to be like this Samaritan.

Sadly, I think a lot of Christians are like the two “godly” men in the story, myself included. We know that the Word of God tells us to love others, but our judgment of them gets in the way. We make our own determination of whether a person “deserves” our compassion, forgiveness, or charity. We pass by the homeless person on the street because of the decisions we think they made to get there. We look down on the girl that got an abortion. We use derogatory names towards those who believe differently than us. We look at the speck in our brother’s eye without noticing the plank in our own (Matthew 7:3).

God doesn’t call us to judge other people, in fact, He explicitly tells us not to in Matthew 7:1. God, instead, calls us to love others. He doesn’t say to love those who believe the same or love those who are living a godly life. He specifically tells us in John 15:12 to, “Love each other as I have loved you”. We sin daily, yet God gives us amazing, unending, underserved grace. This is the grace He calls us to show others.