And Then There Was Silence

I mean not really, but it has been four days :). I haven't really blogged because I never finished the pile of laundry that I started in the last blog post -- and really, who would admit that to the whole wide world?! Oh, right, me.


Last night I led Bible study for my small group. I talked to a couple people before and told them how crummy it was going to be, and, from my perspective, it was only mildly better than crummy, but through the grace of God I think people got something out of it.


I led on Luke 6:37-42 I mentioned in my study that I couldn't find the study guides our group has for Luke and none of the books I have at home had much to report on that section of Luke either. I went online to steal shamelessly from random sermons, blog posts and online Bible Studies and didn't find much. It's weird since this is such an important passage. A passage that's quoted frequently and that is a fundamental part of Jesus ministry.


I could have skipped ahead and worked on another passage (we're kinda free and loose in our Bible Study on what sections we study -- last week we had a complete repeat of the section we'd studied the week prior). But I had sort of a soft spot for this Bible passage. When I was a little kid, I couldn't wrap my head around verses 41 & 42. I couldn't understand why it wasn't a completely selfless act to try and help your neighbor get the speck out of his eye when you had a painful giant log in your own eye. I mean really, doesn't it sound like one of the most giving and kind things you could do? I've since learned that in the very basic of terms it means don't criticize and pick apart someone else's problems when you've got your own (larger) sins to deal with.


I still had some issues with the passage when I was leading last night. I was trying to understand where you draw the line between accountability and judging. We are called to keep each other accountable, I mean Proverbs 27:17 is pretty clear, as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another. One of the women last night pointed out that just like having money isn't in and of itself evil, it's your attitude toward money that can be evil, so it is that your attitude is what distinguishes between judging and accountability. If you're pointing out faults to make yourself feel better or to bring the other person down, it's pretty likely you're "judging" if you're pointing out faults to help build the person up, it's accountability. . . Okay, sounds pretty simple when I type it out, but I never claimed to be a genius.


In reading the passage over, I also realized I had never noticed the second part of verse 38: "a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Somehow that section sort of got overlooked in the crazy, judge not, blind leading the blind, get the plank outta here!! passage. But re-read that part again. It's really wild. I mean yeah, it means that Jesus clearly wasn't a pastry chef, but if he were a dry goods dealer he'd be the one people would line up to visit. To demonstrate, last night we measured a cup of flour properly for baking (sort of, my demonstrator sort of patted down into the cup, so I think hers should have been 2ozs lighter,) and we had our other demonstrator take a good measure of flour, pressed down, shaken together and running over. The difference was approximately 4 ounces (or 2/3rds more in our case -- if I did my math right, which I doubt). Try the experiment yourself at home. It's shocking. So our forgiveness, our giving, it's supposed to be pressed down, shaken together and running over, not the bare minimum we can muster and still slide by, but 2/3 more! -- or something like that :). Hope it gives you something to think about this coming week when someone annoys you! (I've already messed up today, but I am dusting myself off to try again).