I’m enjoying reading Luke, but I’m not going to write about everything I’m reading – a lot of it came up as I read Matthew or dipped into Mark from time to time. But in chapter 6, we have this verse which I memorized years ago for the wrong reason:

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6.38, ESV)

A lot of us took this verse as a promise about giving. Something like:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9.8, ESV)

But that’s not what Luke 6.38 is about! Jesus is telling us not to judge others:

Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you…with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6.37, 38, ESV)

“With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” Here’s a recent, concrete example. Sean Payton, head coach of the Denver Broncos football team is not having a good year. The team has won one game and lost 5 so far, and Payton is being called “the worst coach in NFL history.”

Is he? Probably not. But he’s called that. Why? Because last summer he called out the Broncos’ previous coach:

It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. -That’s how bad it was. – Sean Payton, July 27, 2023

Give, and it will be given to you:

Pot, it’s time to meet kettle. His name is Sean Payton. And his Denver Broncos absolutely stink. After calling out former Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett for putting on one of the worst coaching jobs we’ve ever seen, Payton is promptly one-upping him.

I mean, maybe it’s too soon, so that might be a bit unfair. But, hey, man.  I didn’t see any of Hackett’s Broncos teams putting up 20 points just to lose by 50. At least Hackett’s teams won a couple of games to start the season. – Mike D. Sykes, USA Today, September 25, 2023

The local Denver writers are on him as well. Give, and it will be given to you.

Want to trash everyone in the building before training camp? Dish to some out-of-town scribe about how the previous guy submitted “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL?” Well, friend, you better back it up. And 0-3 ain’t that. Say what you will about Nathaniel Hackett, at least he waited until Week 16 to submit a total dud. It took Payton three weeks. – Matt Schubert, Denver Post, September 24, 2023

I was helping someone move once, and I thought (I didn’t even say it out loud!), “Wow. This guy sure has a lot of junk.” Within a year, I had some friends helping us move locally, and one of them said, “Bob, you sure have a lot of junk!” Jesus continues:

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. (Luke 6.41, 42, ESV)