Written ~ 10-01-2023
Matthew 7:1-6
1 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.
2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
3 And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?
4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
6 Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.”
Have you ever criticized someone, made a judgement about their lifestyle or circumstances without knowing the whole picture? Sometimes we pass judgment on someone much too quickly, we disregard what they may be going through and deem them unworthy of our time. Verse 7:1 in The Message (MSG) says,
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment.”
This verse makes it very clear, that if you are judging someone, no matter what makes you feel it’s okay to criticize; you will be given the same treatment. Jesus spoke over and over again about love. When we are passing any kind of judgment on someone, how are we showing love for that person? In John 15:12 it says,
“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”
If our first response is to criticize and point out everything that is wrong in someone else, beware, because Matthew 7:1 says that kind of judgment will be placed on us as well. We are to love. Period. If we are not showing love towards others as Christ would have loved them, then we are falling short of one of the Lord’s greatest commandments. Mark 12:28-31 says this,
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening… he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
In Matthew 7:2 we read this…
“For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”
Strong words here… what if we make the conscious effort to think about how we are treating others. Think about a few people in your life today who you may not have applied the Love of the Lord as you should. Unfortunately, each of us can probably select a few. Let’s readjust our thoughts towards them. Think about what it is you are judging. Reexamine that “judgment” using the love that Christ Jesus would have shown that individual. It might just be that we are struggling with the very same thing and whatever it is we are lacking within ourselves is making it easy for us to criticize and judge.
Matthew 7:3-5,
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
Listen to how The Message (MSG) states these same verses:
“It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.”
OOOOHHHHH, that’s a gut punch, isn’t it? “Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.” Well, I don’t know about you, but, for me these verses have me looking inward, examining my own guilt of passing judgment where I have no business doing so. Forgive me Father and help me choose the better path, and LOVE.
The last verse in our passage today, seems to come a little out of left field… Matthew 7:6…
“Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.”
Jesus has a purpose for everything He says, this verse talks about throwing our holiness to those who will not use it for good. What we say to them may be thrown right back in our faces. I think this verse is a warning to us, that if we are judging someone for how they live, maybe that person is not a believer, and we bring harsh judgment by quoting Scripture, we throw at them “spiritual wisdom” in a non-loving way, they are going to take that information, trample on it, tear it to pieces and throw it back soiled with a stench that makes us recoil.
Jesus is making it more than clear in these verses, that we do not judge others. We must look within ourselves first, to see why we feel the need to judge, is there something we need to clear out and repent?
My prayer is that I will become much more aware of any judging or criticism I am placing on others. I do not want to bring the same type of judgment or criticism on myself.
Let’s all be mindful of how we judge others. We may not know what’s going on with that person, emotionally, physically, or spiritually.
Remember one of the greatest commands of Jesus…
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
~AMEN~