Matthew 7:1-5 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 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, “Let me take the speck out of your eye," when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
As bruised vessels ourselves, we do judge. Of course, we consider our judgments and criticisms rational, appropriate. But most of us humans are not completely perfect or sound. We are like some apples: we look good in a quick once over, but somewhere we have been bruised. This mar makes us rather unpredictable in our behavior and judgments of others. As with bruised apples, we definitely are not number one quality. We have shortcomings that might not be detected on the outside, but inside we are bruised. Visibly bruised apples are undesirable, sold last or not at all in the marketplace. Sadly, most people have bruises somewhere in their souls, the judging and criticism of others sometimes originate from these imperfections. If we put down others with our words, we lift ourselves up in our own eyes and maybe in the eyes of others. By pushing others aside with our words, we feel we can shoulder our way to the front of the line in acceptability, using words to garner recognition as wise, stable, and healthy. But Jesus candidly says, be careful about judging for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. In other words, if you let your soul judge other people’s failures, imperfections, be careful; for God can bring your bruises, your shortcomings, to the surface. God knows everything about you. He knows when you are phony; He knows when you are hiding your true identity; He knows the dark spots in your life. Therefore, avoid showing off by criticizing others, for in the same way, God can judge your life. It is much better to give grace and mercy for the other person’s failings, just as you would want grace and mercy for your own weaknesses. A major problem with judging or being hypercritical of others is that we often do not know that we ourselves have been permanently bruised by events and words in our past. We think our judgments come out of a healthy place, but they might emanate from unhealthy experiences in our own lives. Sometimes people who seem very stable under normal circumstances, change radically in environments that threaten or diminish them. People might seem healthy and calm in situations where the water is not rough, where everything is quite predictable, but when conflict arises or when interactions become soiled with harsh, threatening words, the bruises in the souls of people rise to the surface. The milieu of calmness and self-control disappears; the orderliness and predictability of their demeanors fade into emotional reactions and words. The bruising in the souls spills out quickly with criticisms and judgments of others. Often, these negative, reflexive attitudes toward others are indicative of people’s own failings and struggles, flowing from bruised egos acquired early in their lives, from negative words and actions directed towards them when very young. Negativity and neglect bruise little ones; harsh discipline hinders the human spirit. For most people, lost in their consciousness are the bruises in their souls. Consequently, Jesus says beware, 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? Often, we carry planks in our eyes unaware that our vision is clouded by hurts and bruises. God wants us in communion with our fellow Christians. John wrote, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have FELLOWSHIP with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
When we know our wholeness, completeness, and perfection come from the Lord, we are healthy in our perspective of ourselves and others. We know He holds us in his hands. We are like words in parenthesis. He is the parenthesis around our lives; we are IN HIM, totally enveloped in his life and will, not ours. He hides us within himself. Therefore before God, Christians are perfect, for we are IN HIS SON. As the Bible says, For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) If we do not consider that true, we have a salvation made up of works, but if we know that in Christ, under his mercy and grace, we are complete, we do not judge others. We are not made complete by our own works. Consequently, if we say let me help you with that speck in your eye, beware, for we might not be aware of the planks in our own eyes. We might not understand who we really are without the perfection of Jesus Christ. In our journeys on Earth, we are still fully human even with Christ as the center of our lives. We make mistakes and our perspectives can be very human and ungodly; therefore, if we attempt to judge others, we are moving in the fleshly domain not in the Spirit. Christ brings perfection, we cannot. All of us carry planks in some way or the other. In ourselves we have egos built on experiences that build up a false sense of self-sufficiency. We must understand this reality or we end up in the land of the hypocrites. The world often labels Christians that way when we are too ready to judge, lacking understanding of how our words and deeds might sound and look to others. We must be careful when we are too ready to tell the world, Let me take the speck out of your eye. We are saved, yes, but still fleshly beings, with the common desires of this life pressing on us from all sides. We might have a big plank in our own eyes, either visible to the world or within our secret lives. Recently, some of our Christian leaders have been exposed as hypocrites, telling the world about its specks, but at the same time having planks within their own eyes, pursuing fleshly sins. Jesus says, You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. We are all in the same boat, subject to rumor and gossip, living lives that are not necessarily healthy, viewing things on our televisions and computers that are not good and wholesome, passing on information that has not been verified. We are willing to take the speck out of other people’s eyes, but we have a plank of obstruction in our own eyes. Humans are human, the wilderness life is the wilderness life! How can we Christians avoid falling into this trap of fleshly pursuits and thinking? Of course, the answer is within the parenthesis: live Christ’s life for his purposes, be his ambassador in this world, be servants to all, extend grace and mercy even to our enemies. By setting yourself up each day to do those things, you have a chance to avoid negative judgments of others, knowing that your dependence is upon the mercy and grace that God gives to you every day. We agree with Paul when he wrote: I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)
When we are incessantly critical and judgmental, we need to consider the law of grace. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:12-13) James understood that grace has freed us from the strictures of the law of Moses. The law of Moses pointed out our wrongdoings, but the law of grace is laden with freedom and mercy. When we deal with others and their shortcomings, we should deal with them in the land of grace and not law. The land of grace is where we found rightness with God, and that is where we want to be when we view other people’s lives. As said earlier, all people have experienced the rough edges of this life. Many have been bruised by others; many are not even aware of their bruises that happened to them in their early lives, but they are still there, and their reaction to circumstances and to others might come from those hurts. Why judge others? Consider God’s mercy to us; look at the price Christ paid to make us acceptable in every way to him. Gossiping about others is sometimes an extension of judging, placing ourselves in a “know it all” position. Other times, gossiping can be nothing more that elevating ourselves within a group. The tongue can be destructive, turning the whole conversation within a group to negativity. The Bible says, no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:8) This is not good—such power can harm the subject or subjects of the gossip and the source. In everything we say or do, we must consider the mercy of God towards us. If we do not, we fall into the category of hypocrite, for God knows our lives, and someday He will judge even the secrets we hold so tightly to ourselves. If our lives do not line up to the purity that we claim, we will be judged harshly as hypocrites, especially when we fail to forgive others for the same faults that lie within us. Let us strive to see clearly through the lens of mercy and grace. When we do, we will see clearly to remove the speck in others after first attending to the planks in our own eyes. By giving God’s grace and mercy, we have an avenue to heal the inner part of a person’s soul. If we push them, they will push back, but if we love them regardless of their faults, healing has a chance to change their hearts from fleshly actions to devotion to God. Breakfast companions, all of this is easy to say, but as Paul said, And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. (1 Corinthians 2) God’s spirit in us wants to give the world his abundant love, not to constantly look for specks so that we might judge the world. Christ made us whole, the cross cleansed us. Let us pray that others will be made whole, perfect before God’s eyes. We close with these wonderful words penned by John, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1)
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