4:24 It is said a lot "don't judge or you will be judged". Sometimes we apply this saying to things on earth and sometimes to our future as we meet God and are judged. We will all be judged, both here and by God. The variable is 'how will I be judged?' We live under grace and by the mercy of God are not destroyed for our wickedness, but allowed innumerable times per day to fail God's design for us. As such, God simply asks us to treat others, his other amazing creations, just as we are treated by Him. How we live in relationship to those around us is indeed how we live in relationship with God. How we fulfill the great commission, to love all people with the love of 1Cor 13, the measure we use to do that is the same measure that will be used to measure us, to judge us. The great commission is to go into all the world and make believers of all men. What is a believer? One who loves out of or thru the love if God. How do we make them believers? By loving them with Christ's love.
4:25 I build and restore bmx bikes from the late 70s-early 90s. The dream is for a bike to be so beautiful as to leave the mouths of fellow enthusiasts gaping wide open and drooling of course. I don't currently have the skills and likely monetary means to do so, but I'm getting closer. I started by just putting old bikes together that I could ride around on and since then each bike has gotten nicer as my skills and knowledge have improved. So it is with my walk with God. He has given me certain natural abilities and skills. When I use these they are honed and improved, and then seeing I've done well God gives me more. If I didn't use them, if I left that old bike outside and never put effort into it, nature would take it's course. Rust would set in and soon even what I had would be gone. So it is with the gifts of God. Left unused and discarded they will simply fade away. Like a foreign language never used, soon the memory of it as well as the muscle memory of the mouth will go away and no longer will you be able to speak it.
4:26-29 The Holy Spirit grows the kingdom of God. It is what we cannot see, the invisible worker. We may plant seed, we may water, but it is the great helper who puts it all together and makes it grow.
4:30-32 These verses talk of the kingdom of God being like a mustard seed. Super small yet becoming huge. I've seen the same of the believer. The smallest most insignificant person becoming huge as they lay their life down and dedicate everything to loving others. Sometimes we know not what God has planted inside us.
4:33&34 We've had thousands of years to study and dissect scripture with mixed results to say the least. Jesus explained everything to the disciples and yet they didn't understand. The Pharisees and religious leaders had all the info, they knew it all, yet they didn't understand. WE have so much info, yet so little understanding. Info, knowledge, is not key to our understanding. The Holy Spirit, relationship with our creator, relationship with His creation is key to our understanding.
4:35-41 Even though the disciples had seen many miracles and many amazing evidences, they still did not believe Jesus was the messiah. The Pharisees later would ask for a sign but Jesus said no sign would be given. Miracles strangely can distract us from God rather than enforcing belief. Faith comes from believing without seeing. When their evidence was removed (Jesus) they finally got it! The disciples finally believed.
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