How Inspiring Matthew 7:1-3
Judging Others
Matthew 7:1-3
“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? “
I had some issues with my eyes recently which necessitated several visits to the optical specialist. As I’ve always been a believer of the mind/body connection, I pondered how the defect that appeared in my eyes could relate to a ‘defect’ in my physical world.
I realized I was becoming critical of my physical self, which does happen every now and again. Because of that, I externalized it and became critical of people and things around me.
The wakeup call for me was on Good Friday after the evening church service. There had been a woman who sat several pews forward with 4 very young children who kept crying and whining loudly. Although the mother did try to manage her children, it became obvious that the congregants were become annoyed by all the disruption preventing us from hearing the service we came to be enriched by.
That evening something dawned on me and I dropped to my knees in shame. Just like the others, my critical ‘eye’ was judging how this woman seemed to be disturbing the service instead of me getting up to help her, which would have been doing the service of God … especially that particular evening!
We are taught to show our love for God through how we love our neighbors. Had I taken the ‘log’ out of my own eye, I would have remembered that.
Let’s do our best to always keep our ‘focus’ on the Lord. When we begin to judge how someone is doing something, maybe that’s our signal to volunteer to show God’s love and help them.
