Judging Others

Matthew 7:1-5

“Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Judging other people is one of the easiest temptations there is in life.  With social media, we have a live look in at everything people want to share.  The message of this passage of Scripture is simple; putting it into practice is quite difficult.  When we interact with other people, our end goal should be 1) point them to Christ and 2) serve them as Christ served us.  I’ve always loved the illustration Jesus uses here, because it points out just how ridiculous judging other people can be.  We choose to nit pick and find fault with others instead of asking God to remove our own sin.  Frequently, we hear sermons and think of others who need to hear the lesson without putting it into practice first ourselves!  And once we’ve removed our own log, are we to simply point out the speck in our brother’s eye?  No.  We are to take the speck out.  This isn’t meant to say we can fix sin all by ourselves, because we need God’s help.  Our approach to a fellow Christian living in sin shouldn’t be of condemnation, but instead, we should take the approach of trying to gently steer them back to a rich, healthy lifestyle in Christ.  We can’t even begin to help, however, if we ourselves are laden with unconfessed sin.  When you are feeling judgmental, remember that God chooses to accept us into a relationship with him, despite the fact that we are sinners only saved by grace.  This should make you much more gracious towards others, and look at them with love and mercy instead of judgement.  Remember the debt God forgave from mankind is greater than any debt any person will ever owe you.  Let us focus on fighting our own sin in life, so that with the help of Jesus, our interactions with others will be free of judgement, and full of compassion.