When we try to earn our salvation, or prove how good we are, we usually end up trying to prove how bad others are, how we are better than others, or at least how they are worse than us. This is a futile exercise, and is no part of kingdom life.
“For others will treat you as you treat them”. If we judge others, then God will use the same measuring stick against us, and this will inevitably work out badly for us! However, it also affects the way other people respond to us. If we have a critical attitude, then others will adopt a critical attitude towards us as a defensive measure.
Human nature is to find faults in others. Instead our first concern should be to put our own lives right. We may think in a situation that we are 10% responsible and someone else is 90% responsible. Even so, we should focus first on our 10%. The person in this world whom I can influence the most is me! So this is the best place to start. Doing this also puts us in much better standing with God.
Now we need to recognise how much this goes against our human nature (the flesh). So we will have to make a conscious decision to focus on putting ourselves right, before we try to put everyone else right.
The final verse of this section seems a little strange to us. Maybe it is telling us to be careful and wise in how we interact with unbelievers. Just telling them what is wrong with their lives on its own will do no good. It is only the mercy of God that can break through.
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