Hosanna Restoration Church

I know we would all rather put the responsibility on God or someone else for how things go, but according to this from the Word of God He gives us directions and we set the standard. We have control over what we put into the measuring cup so to speak. We are the ones who can choose to follow His commands or not. We decide whether we will be judgmental, critical, or unforgiving. We decide whether we will be generous or selfish. He even gives us the Holy Spirit to remind us if we are wrong so we can adjust the measurements. Verse 40 tells us that a student who works hard will become like the teacher. That is our goal isn’t it; to become like Jesus?

Jesus knew that we would have to work to overcome our own tendencies to use the wrong ingredients in establishing our measure of return. Right after telling them how they could make sure their measure was a good one; He cautioned them to be wise, using the illustration of one blind person leading another. When a person is being led by God in a particular area they need be careful that they do not allow someone without understanding in that area to keep them from the truth. In other words, follow someone who has been there and experienced the promise of God in that area.

Many people have been robbed of things that God had for them, because they followed the direction of someone who was blind to that truth. I have seen people who God healed through prayer give up their healing because someone told them it just does not work that way. The key is to go to God, His word, and to people who understand His word and who will encourage you to follow what He says.

I believe that the rest of this chapter continues to expound on what is necessary to improve the measure that is used to measure our return. Jesus said to make sure we have all the logs or blind spots removed from our own eyes before we get too busy finding fault with others. Unfortunately, Christians are often experts at faultfinding. It is sad to say that we often see people without Christ display more Christ-like qualities than those who consider themselves to be Christian.

Jesus then tells them that a good tree should produce good fruit. It would be good for us all to do more self-examination and see just what sort of fruit we are displaying. If we are displaying bad fruit, then we are not letting the Spirit of God rule in that area of our lives. If that is the case, we need not make excuses or feel condemned; we simply need to make the necessary changes. If we want a good measure used for our return then we need to follow the instructions the Lord has given us. If we do, Jesus says we are “like a person who builds on a strong foundation.” We will stand long and strong because we are anchored in Him.