Loving, Judging, or Receiving

Luke 6.27-38

Christians often pressure themselves into thinking that they always need to be nice and generous, or that they are never allowed to make any judgements. A common misunderstanding is if you are Christian, then you should not judge. Usually these distortions of Scripture come from Luke 6.27.38.

When reading this passage with the focus on God, we see why some Christians might be misled into these misinterpretations. This passage teaches Christians to love their enemies, to be generous to everyone, and not to judge because this is how God relates with us (Luke 6.36, 38). God loved us while we were his enemies, God has been lavishly generous to us even though we can never pay him back, and God has extended mercy instead of judgement toward us.

In other parts of Scripture, God relates to us in other ways as well. There are times where, in his love, God needs to be firm with us. He leads us to repentance. He says no to our requests for our well-being. Therefore, the focus of this passage is not that we should always be nice and generous, and never judge. The focus of this passage is that we ought to interact with others based on the way God interacts with us. Rather than focusing on loving or not judging, the focus must be on receiving the many ways that God loves us, which will then enable us to glorify God through complicated relationships.