LEARNING DAILY

Matthew 7:1-3, Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?

Today’s writing is the result of a conversation I had with a close brother-in Christ a while back. Yes, I was complaining, and he brought this verse to my attention. I’m not sure he was talking about me or who I was complaining about when he mentioned the log in the eye verses the speck in the eye. Obviously, I have been considering this verse for some time.

Those who want people to be tolerant of everyone and everything people do will often bring up this verse. They usually take it out of context. They do not want others to disapprove or correct the actions of others. One cannot read “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged” and stop. Jesus did not say “never judge”; He said there were consequences for judging. In John 7:24 Jesus said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." Hypocritical judgment is wrong!

In the Sermon on the Mount (where these verses come from) Jesus has been teaching on the way the religious leaders of Israel have been practicing their righteousness. They do things to be seen as religious, want the best seats in order to be seen, pray and fast to be seen – doing things to show how worthy they were instead of humbly serving God. Hypocrites! The religious leaders performed their religious duties to be seen and belittled those who did differently than they preferred. The religious leaders looked for opportunities to condemn others they did not think lived up to their religious standards.

This led to unfair pressure to live up to the standards of those in authority. So, Jesus told those following Him to not judge unfairly in order to not be judged unfairly themselves. The religious leaders were arrogant in their beliefs and attitude. Because of that, they declared their own righteousness and the opinion of others unworthy. Their lack of humility led them to perceive and believe the thoughts and actions of others as inferior to their own. The teaching of Jesus in Matthew 7 is not that God’s people should never speak the difference between right and wrong; they are to be careful not to judge by external circumstances. Make right judgments about what is true and what is false. One better be careful about judging others, especially Believers, as if one were God. That is hypocrisy and shallowness.

Jesus made it very clear that those who make judgments on others as if they were God will be judged by those standards. Judgmental people are going to be judged by other people. Can I just say that it is not anyone’s role to judge or hold others to an unfair standard. That is God’s role. He judges righteously. He holds each person accountable for their relationship to His Son. He holds each Believer accountable for their walk on the narrow way. Those who hold others accountable, who judge according to external circumstances will be judged by God by those same standards.

Jesus was showing Believers that they can be blind to their own sins. He was asking how we can see the speck in another’s eye but be blind to the log in their own eye. It does seem interesting that I can often see the faults of another or when what another does not measure up to “my” standard. Be careful! Perhaps human nature is to see the speck in another’s eye and assume it is okay to judge it. Helping another remove the speck only occurs when the log is taken out of our own. The point seems to be that both the “speck” and the “log” may be sinful and not everything we see in others should be accepted (there is that thought about tolerance again). No, we approach sin and wrongdoing in others with humility and grace, not arrogance!