#iGrowchallenge: Judge Not.....

I am reading a few verses ahead of the #igrowchallenge reading guide, so I read tomorrows reading in Matthew just a few minutes ago. I was particularly struck by Matthew 7:1-2: "Do not judge, so you that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged and with the measure you give will be the measure you get."

I just read that passage after praying for someone I have really judged recently.  My prayers went something like ‘change their heart, God' and ‘would you touch them with your spirit?’ ‘Would you make them realize their error and turn them to the right?'  

And then I read this passage and realized that I was judging this person even in my prayers. I was assuming this person wasn't growing in relationship with Christ and that their faith was just empty religion and tradition.  And I discounted everything this person had to say and every opinion they had because I assumed that they just 'didn't get it'.....so everything they said was invalid. 

Do I want to be judged like that by other people? NO. 
Do I want others to hold those opinions of me? NO WAY. 
Do I want God to have that opinion of me? DEFINITELY NOT! 

Yet I still hold those kinds of opinions about others. I think I need to go back and revise my prayers for this person, including a prayer of confession.

In Bible study on Friday we read Hebrews 4:12 and I am feeling an example of this passage right now:  “indeed the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides sou from spirit, joints from marrow; is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

How has the word been 'piercing' your life lately?