Day 95: A Jug of Judgment, If You DON'T Please?
Read: Matthew 7:1 - 6
Judge not lest ye be judged! Who gave you the grand law degree to judge
me? Who placed you on the bench of my life that you should sit in
judgement over what you have no knowledge of or experience in? Yes, I
have heard all of these and I guess the worst one I ever heard was, 'like father - like son', judging me on the same standard someone assigned to my dad before anyone got a chance to know the 'real me' was. God asks: How is it that you can set yourself up judge with a log stuck in your eyes? How can you see what you are doing when you yourself can't see the whole picture?
It bothers me to hear someone use Matthew 7:1 that way. But, you see,
it’s great to have a verse to prove what you already want to believe,
and I think that’s how this verse has been used. It has been used to
convey the idea, "You live your lifestyle and I’ll live mine. But don’t
you tell me how to live, and certainly don’t you try to impose your
standards of morality on me." "Judge not that you be not judged" is
spouted by a lot of people who have no earthly idea what Jesus meant.
And I venture to say that the people who quote this verse the most are
the ones who understand it the least.
But you see, even though
we are unqualified, we still judge. And we often do so for selfish
reasons; it makes us feel better. If we have a problem with sin in our
own lives, it takes a little pressure off to point the finger at others
for a while. It makes our sin seem not so bad after all. But, Jesus
warns us that we’ve got to clean up our own act before we can even dare
to begin to start tampering with the lives of others.
When I
spend my time pointing my finger at your sin, my attention is distracted
from my own sins, and that’s the real danger of judging. We’re all
sinners, and we are all to work together as a family to overcome our
sins. But ultimately, the only sins over which I have control are my
own, those are the primary ones that should command my greatest
attention. I need to exercise a proper amount of time with my eyesight.
So what is the message of Matthew 7:1-6? I believe it’s a warning for
us to avoid the extremes of judgment. We need to be careful not to
become harshly judgmental, looking for faults, taking the opportunity to
look down on others from our position of self-righteousness. We can see
so well the things in others’ lives that we want to pick on, but Jesus
said we’re usually being overly critical, hypocritical when we do it. I have to confess here and now that I have been unjustly critical of too many people and have sadly created more than my fair share of undeserved grief.
It is important for us to carefully notice that he just didn’t stop
there. He did not just instruct us to stay out of other people’s
business. Let sin be sin. Rather, he gave us the responsibility of
helping our brother: "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then
you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye."
(7:5). We must first confess our own poor spiritual eyesight then
surrender it to God's sight. Without God's vision, people start perishing.
This is my prayer: that your love
might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of
insight. I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really
matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. I
pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness,
which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.
(Philippians 1:9-11 CEB)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcnfT4arZtI
I Surrender - Hillsong Live (Cornerstone New 2012 DVD Album) Lyrics/Subtitles (Worship Song)
www.youtube.com
Hillsong - I surrender Hillsong Live New DVD Album,
Read: Matthew 7:1 - 6
Judge not lest ye be judged! Who gave you the grand law degree to judge me? Who placed you on the bench of my life that you should sit in judgement over what you have no knowledge of or experience in? Yes, I have heard all of these and I guess the worst one I ever heard was, 'like father - like son', judging me on the same standard someone assigned to my dad before anyone got a chance to know the 'real me' was. God asks: How is it that you can set yourself up judge with a log stuck in your eyes? How can you see what you are doing when you yourself can't see the whole picture?
It bothers me to hear someone use Matthew 7:1 that way. But, you see, it’s great to have a verse to prove what you already want to believe, and I think that’s how this verse has been used. It has been used to convey the idea, "You live your lifestyle and I’ll live mine. But don’t you tell me how to live, and certainly don’t you try to impose your standards of morality on me." "Judge not that you be not judged" is spouted by a lot of people who have no earthly idea what Jesus meant. And I venture to say that the people who quote this verse the most are the ones who understand it the least.
But you see, even though we are unqualified, we still judge. And we often do so for selfish reasons; it makes us feel better. If we have a problem with sin in our own lives, it takes a little pressure off to point the finger at others for a while. It makes our sin seem not so bad after all. But, Jesus warns us that we’ve got to clean up our own act before we can even dare to begin to start tampering with the lives of others.
When I spend my time pointing my finger at your sin, my attention is distracted from my own sins, and that’s the real danger of judging. We’re all sinners, and we are all to work together as a family to overcome our sins. But ultimately, the only sins over which I have control are my own, those are the primary ones that should command my greatest attention. I need to exercise a proper amount of time with my eyesight.
So what is the message of Matthew 7:1-6? I believe it’s a warning for us to avoid the extremes of judgment. We need to be careful not to become harshly judgmental, looking for faults, taking the opportunity to look down on others from our position of self-righteousness. We can see so well the things in others’ lives that we want to pick on, but Jesus said we’re usually being overly critical, hypocritical when we do it. I have to confess here and now that I have been unjustly critical of too many people and have sadly created more than my fair share of undeserved grief.
It is important for us to carefully notice that he just didn’t stop there. He did not just instruct us to stay out of other people’s business. Let sin be sin. Rather, he gave us the responsibility of helping our brother: "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye." (7:5). We must first confess our own poor spiritual eyesight then surrender it to God's sight. Without God's vision, people start perishing.
This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God. (Philippians 1:9-11 CEB)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcnfT4arZtI
I Surrender - Hillsong Live (Cornerstone New 2012 DVD Album) Lyrics/Subtitles (Worship Song)
www.youtube.com
Hillsong - I surrender Hillsong Live New DVD Album,
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