1 Do Not Judge
This week, in our final look at the Sermon on the Mount, we find Jesus talking about our relationships as Christians, and about the great decisions we must take if we are to live lives which please God.
Jesus starts by warning us about judging.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7: 1, 2, [NIV]
What Jesus is not doing is asking us to put to one side our critical faculties. We have to make judgements every day about how we should live our lives. What he is doing is warning us not to be critical about other people. We are not God. He alone knows the hearts and motives of people, and is qualified to judge.
Jesus illustrates what he means in the parable which follows.
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.
Matthew 7: 3 – 5, [NIV]
We can have a fault-finding mentality, seeing problems with other people, but not in ourselves. How easy it is to criticise others, but fail to see our own shortcomings! Our first need is not to sort out the failings of others, but to focus on our own faults.
'The command to judge not is not a requirement to be blind, but rather a plea to be generous.' [John Stott]
Lord, please forgive me when I have been critical of others, but not critical of myself. Help me to see other people as you see them. Amen.
David Long
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