Cut Me Some Slack

Friday, March 17

Cut Me Some Slack
By: Pastor Todd Crofford

"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 NIV

Are you old enough to remember the term, “Cut me some slack”?

It comes from the idea of loosening a rope so that it is not so restricting. That expression applies well to extending grace. We should err to the side of grace- making space for others in how we judge- because we never know everything.  

Sometimes we just think we do.

If we look at someone else who is in a particular place, and without having faced their experiences, we judge their outcome- that is graceless. 

Can we judge everything a single mom is doing when we are in an intact marriage?  Do we judge the temperament of an ill person while our health is perfect? Do we quietly judge the parents of a rebellious teenager while we hold our little six-month-old infant in our arms? Do we look down on the ways someone poor is scraping by for a living while we sit comfortably in our well-appointed homes?

Jesus warns us against that type of judgment. In fact, He says the day may come when that same measuring stick will be used on us. I suppose one way to think about that would be, “Be careful, you may be in the same boat someday and want the same level of grace given to you that you gave away.” 

To say it the Native American way, “Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.”

Today I repent of every time I have judged someone while they were in the midst of something I really don’t understand.  I want to cut others some serious slack.  The day will come when I am the one who needs it.