Luke 20:27-47; Genesis 37; Psalm 28

“Do not take me away with the wicked And with the workers of iniquity, Who speak peace to their neighbors, But evil is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, And according to the wickedness of their endeavors; Give them according to the work of their hands; Render to them what they deserve.” (Psalm 28:3-4 NKJV)

My pastor was joking this morning when he said, “If you’re ever mad at someone, don’t read the Sermon on the Mount, read Psalms.” The passage he was referring to talked about God giving one’s enemies a knuckle sandwich. (Psalm 3:7) Psalms has a lot of that honest feeling of “God, take care of them just like they tried to do with me.” In this Psalm, David’s trying to distance himself in God’s eyes from those hypocrites who speak peace while plotting and doing evil. He wanted God to give his enemies what they deserved, but he wanted to avoid that same fate himself. How often do we notice other people doing evil things, but fail to recognize it in ourselves? How often do we seek God’s justice – for others while depending on grace from God for our own lives. Perhaps Jesus was thinking of scripture like this when He reminded us to take the beam out of our own eyes before working on the speck in that other guy’s eye.

As you prepare for a new workday and work week, let’s be honest: how often do you get upset with people who make the same mistakes you do? How often do you want people to suffer for bad business decisions while you hope for God’s forgiveness for yourself? Make a commitment before you even start the work week that you’ll extend the same kind of grace to others that you want God to give to you. It will amaze you how much better your week goes.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.