"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," Matthew 7:1-2
Last Friday was like a warp zone. Eight years after graduating from Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana, I had the unique privilege of speaking at one of their chapel services. In the eight years since I've been a student the buildings have changed, some of the faces have changed, and it's all too wonderfully evident to me that the chapel gathering has not changed.
Early in my time at Bethel I mocked chapel, I sat in my perch and waited for material. What a turn of events that a ten year journey placed me on the stage that I once made a parody. I told the students about the morning when (as Brennan Manning would say) I was ambushed by Jesus of Nazareth. He liberated me from the labels I was clinging to, and gave me the only one that really mattered, "Beloved."
In the fishbowl that is a small college campus, labels become a clean and easy way to not really get to know anyone. It becomes all too easy to find value on the surface. So we know and become known by arbitrary things like physical characteristics, fashion sense, athletic ability, test scores, and the ability to make other people laugh. They become the name-tags we where; some we give to ourselves, others are projected upon us. When Matthew was ambushed by Jesus in the middle of the daily grind, he left the labels of "tax-collector" and "sinner" and found his identity in the unrelenting love of Christ, removing all name-tags but one: "Beloved."
Jesus says do not judge, or you too will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. I think it's far too easy for me to read these words and neglect their gravity. Residing in a culture that so quickly stamps a label on one and quickly moves to the other, it is often difficult not to weigh the value of others by this twisted standard. It's so simple to declare superficial sentences on people based on appearance alone, without ever...you know, talking to them.
I love that Jesus talks about the measure we use in our judgments. It provides some perspective on the depth of love He is inviting us to. So, if you want people to love you for external nonsense like your hair or your ability to play a guitar or tell a joke - welcome to the kiddie pool, it's shallow here. The depth of this love you look for from others will only enable you to love others at the same depth. The older we get the more awkward it gets to be hanging out in the kiddie pool. It's uncomfortable to see mature people doing immature things for shallow depths of love.
The deep end is scary because it requires a full plunge - an uninhibited leap of faith. But once your immersed in the depth of this kind of love, you can truly love others at the same depth. This is the water Jesus invites us to because it is the kind of love He gives and wants to receive. Jesus wants us to know others and be known simply as sons and daughters of God, loved by the King. It's so simple and incredibly deep.
Ben Harper sings a beautiful song that I heard driving home yesterday. These words stood out to me...
A candle throws its light into the darkness
In a nasty world so shines a good deed
Make sure the fortune that you seek
Is the fortune that you need
....
She has diamonds on the inside
She has diamonds on the inside
She wore diamonds on the inside
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