For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.
Matthew 7:2 (CSB)
Yesterday Jesus said, “Do not judge.” Today He tells us why.
Jesus says it two ways. The standard we use on other people will be used on us. And the measure we use will be used on us. That word “measure” is a picture. In Jesus’ day, a measure was a scoop or a basket at the market. The seller filled it with grain, and how full it got was up to the seller. The seller could use a stingy scoop or a generous one.
So whatever scoop we use on other people, that same scoop gets used on us. And it’s God who uses it. This isn’t “be mean and people will be mean back.” God measures, and He measures with our measure.
We probably do most of our measuring at home. We hold a mistake against someone for a year, and we want ours forgotten by dinner.
Jesus isn’t saying we earn God’s mercy by being easy on people, though. He told a story about a servant who was forgiven a huge debt, and then refused to forgive a man who owed him a small one (Matthew 18:23-35). In the story the master took the forgiveness back. Jesus’ point is that the man’s stinginess showed he had never really taken the mercy in.
So we should measure other people the way we want to be measured. And better than that, we should use the scoop God used on us. God took our sin and put it on Jesus at the cross, and He gave us Jesus’ righteousness, His right standing with God, in return (2 Corinthians 5:21). That’s the measure He hands us for everybody else.