"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. "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
May I be really honest with you? Judging comes easily for me. Even my Myers-Briggs personality test ends in a J, which stands for judging. (I know that test isn't necessarily referring to this passage, but still...). I am quick to judge. I don't know if that was always so. Yet, I also know in the Christian community it becomes easy to judge when we have a standard set before us according to Christ, and it sure is a lot easier and less painful for us to recognize the short-comings in other people than it is to look deeply at our own life. We are puffed up people, aren't we?
Jesus knows this about us. That's why He said, "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..." He knows this about us. And we sure do have plenty of opportunities these days don't we? Oh my, suddenly because of the Internet and Facebook, we can decide whether something is worthy of being "liked" just by clicking a button. We can make comments on articles, photos, and news stories and judge whether they're good or not, and then we can even judge the comments left by OTHER people. This is a startling reality for me: we act like God when we play those roles! I'm not saying don't even leave a comment anymore, but just think about the comments that you see sometimes -- people leave their opinions when its really not their place to decide!
Let me be clear, there is a difference between judging and having discernment. In verse 6 even, Jesus wants us to discern the difference between people who are dogs and pigs verses other people. We are to make discerning, wise choices. Those of you with teenagers would certainly want your teens to make discerning choices about which friends they'd choose, right? And that's a good thing! But the reason Jesus gets so upset when we judge others is because we should "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." While we are so busy judging others for the sake of feeling better about ourselves, we are completely overlooking the great sin in our own life! Many of the "sins" that other people commit that bother me the most are the same ones that I struggle with or have struggled with, too. If we can take the LOG out of our own eye, then we can clearly see the SPECK in our brother's eye for what it is, and then we might be able to have MERCY on them. Show mercy.
Don't you want God to have mercy on you? We have offended The King, my friends! Daily, hourly, we do something that is less than perfect in front of our Lord who IS perfect! Our hearts are dark at times, and even the kindest person you know is very capable of some of the ugliest sin. I hope and pray we can recognize that about ourselves. Yet, when I see God one day, do I not want Him to have mercy on me for what I have done and the attitudes I have carried? "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." If we can't show mercy to others today, how can we expect God to show mercy to us? He is a just God, and don't we always want Him to be "fair"? He will be just when it comes to judging us, too.
Our society tells us that we can judge whatever and whomever we want, and God tells us to only judge ourselves, because the root of our judgement is in our own pride. Oh, how prideful I am.
So what should we do to please God instead? When it comes to how we should view other people, it's quite simple (though not always easy):
"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)
May we be just, merciful, and humble today. That's all. Lord, teach us how.
No comments:
Post a Comment