How far should we go?

A young person told me a story where he wanted to give a cost of a meal to a person that needed the money.  When he suggested this to the group that he was eating with, they did not think that it was feasible.  This person was distraught because of the lack of discernment that he noticed in the group.  He asked me what should have been done?

When I read the Bible and see that Jesus didn’t even have a pillow for his head and lived day-to-day, it is really a hard question for me to answer.  In my own life I want to justify everything I do.  But when I look at others I see issues.  Two passages come to mind when I think about all of this.

“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.  “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  Matthew 7:1-4 (NIV)

“If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.  Matthew 10:38-39 (MSG)

Do you judge?  How big is the plank in your eye?  Do you go all the way with Jesus?  What is your first concern?  Are you willing to forget about yourself?

Take some time today and think about this!  For me I need to stop judging and try to live a life like Jesus.