“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the
same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it
will be measured to you. 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 7:1-5)
All Scripture
is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training
in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every
good work.
(I Timothy 3:16-17)
Every so often, someone proclaims
"Judge not!" It's a part of a verse that is quite popular among some
portions of our population, even if they aren't Christians. Today's passage is
the full text of that part of Jesus' sermon. Reading all of it, it seems
absolutely critical, even vital that we do
judge, because once we judge ourselves and remove the plank, we can help our
brothers who have specks. Jesus never says we're not to remove our brothers'
specks - only that we should do it in the manner that makes it easiest and
safest to that brother for us to do it. I would certainly not like the idea of
my eye surgeon performing surgery while he has a cataract, but at the same
time, an eye surgeon can save me from blindness and death.
Today's
second passage gives a balance to "Judge not." If all Scripture is
profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
then is it wrong to teach, rebuke, correct or train? Can we teach, rebuke,
correct and train without judging that what someone is doing is wrong - or
right? Is it right to refuse to help equip the man of God for every good work?
Putting
aside the fact that those who say "Judge not!" are violating their
own command, there is another important question that we should all ask when we
are judged (and we are all judged on a daily basis.) I'll illustrate it with a
story I heard. Mrs. Nardone[1]
told me that one day her daughter came home in tears. Kids at school had been
saying something mean to her. After some gentle prodding, the girl said,
"They said I'm short!"
Mrs. Nardone sighed. She is perhaps
five feet tall, and her husband is only a little taller. She said, "Well,
honey, you are short." The more
important question that needs to be asked when one is judged is, "Is the
judgment true?" If it's true, then maybe you should thank the person who "judged"
you, even if you find someone else to help you remove that speck.
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