In this week’s study of the Sermon on the Mount, we continue a series titled Inside Out. Through this sermon, Jesus shows us how to push through the external traits and impressions of the world around us and into the inner conditions of righteousness. As we explore His words on the tender subject of judgement, Jesus has an important message for us: Judge like you want to be judged.

What Jesus has to say about how we judge is likely what you’d expect, but as we’ve come to expect from Him, he teaches with a twist. As easy as it can be to jump to the nearest and most convenient conclusions, we are cautioned that what we give will be given back to us. If we desire to be judged with the grace we have been given, we must in turn be willing to offer grace and goodness and generosity to those we might judge.

Jesus shows us how to judge without being judgmental and to judge at our own risk. At the end of the day, we are going to be judged by the one who’s role we’re trying to play, God, the one and only true judge.