Gateway South & Central
4/3 – WHY WE JUDGE
We all do it. We make snap judgements. Researchers say we do it in less than a tenth of a second. What if in a culture rife with cheap tolerance offered from a place of pride we learned to offer transforming grace from a place of humility? Work through the following questions on your own, and get together with your running partner, Life Group, or friends and family around the dinner table to talk through what you’re learning!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Describe a time when you felt judged. How did that make you feel?
- Where do you struggle most with being judgmental yourself and why?
- Read Luke 6:37-42. What strikes you most about this passage? What do you observe?
- What role does arrogance or humility play in being judgmental or not? How have you seen this play out in your own interactions with others?
- What do you think is the difference between tolerance and grace?
- How are you doing experiencing grace for yourself right now? Are you humbling going before God and acknowledging your need for Him and for His grace? What step can you take to experience more of His grace this week?
- How are you doing in your giving of grace? Read John 1:14. How can you be “full of grace and truth” like Jesus in your interactions with others more this week?
KEY SCRIPTURES
Luke 7:37-42 — Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
John 1:14 — We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
DIGGING DEEPER
Did you know you can now track your progress working through the outcomes we include in Next Steps right on Gateway’s website?! Go to SPIRITUAL GROWTH PATH and create an account. You’ll get access to Spiritual Fitness Checks and training with the spiritual outcomes.
Spiritual Outcomes – Build Others, Humility & Self-Awareness
Learn more about how you can balance grace and truth in one’s approach to others by working through the BUILD OTHERS outcome. If we are to authentically love people, we must carefully consider how we build others up. It takes prayer, and it takes thoughtfulness. We must be careful of our own perspective and motives, and we must carefully consider the perspective and receptivity of our friends.
Learn more about how to live humbly in your relationship with others by working through the HUMILITY outcome. Arrogance is lethal. As we relate to each other in our countless roles and responsibilities, one of the more loving things we can do is become the type of people who are easy to work with, partner with, and relate to. A person is humble when they know who they are and who they are not, which gives us a clue as to why Scripture puts such a premium on humility.
Learn more about how to cultivate an awareness of your impact on others by working through the SELF-AWARENESS outcome. No matter the relationship, one consistent factor is the presence of ourselves. Self-awareness is much more difficult, and yet cultivating such awareness is a tremendous gift to those around us and a significant mark of maturity. The self-aware know the gifts they bring and bring them boldly. They also know the challenges they bring and humbly work toward transformation. We impact those around us, whether we intend to or not, and the loving learn to discern the effect of their own presence. conversations should only be had with those we know have our best interest in mind, but when done wisely and well, they will empower us to be the kind of loving people we genuinely want to be.
BIBLE APP by YOU VERSION
If you’ve yet to do so, we encourage you to download the Bible App by YouVersion on your smart phone. Create a free YouVersion account under Settings. Tap Plans > Discover > Search: Outreach New Testament > Start Plan. Then you can read along each day with us!