Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
Do you want to be judged and condemned? Jesus was rather emphatic about His position, which is also the position of Our Heavenly Father. As I have said before: We judge ourselves by our intent, but everyone else by their actions. Our egos easily forgive ourselves of hurtful actions toward others but then “go for the throat” when others respond to our actions in a less than forgiving manner. This is an indication that we simply don’t want to change. Our ego wants everyone else to change and conform to us, thus feeding the ego and making it even stronger and more unmanageable.
We must die to self, that is the bottom line. It means we must not respond to behavior that promotes the ego. We must not acknowledge and perpetuate lawless behavior. When we attempt to make the other person do our bidding, we will generally fail. Why? Even though we can modify their behavior, we do nothing to change their heart, and the heart is where the problem lies. We should ask Our Heavenly Father to minister life to all involved. Until we are perfected by Love, we must assume that our heart needs further development as well as the other. During the process of maturing, we must keep Luke 6:37 before us at all times lest we fall into the same ditch as we perceive the other person to be in.