THE WRONG IN ME JUDGES THE WRONG IN YOU

Sometimes the wrong in me judges the wrong in others and I have no right because I am worse off than they are… so Jesus says…

In Luke 6:39-42 Jesus told His disciples a parable, he said, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”

Because of the sad and pitiful condition of the blind, the Mosaic Law prescribed kindness and assistance to those that could not see, forbidding anyone to place a stumbling block in their path Lev 19:14 and Deut 27:18. This kindness was practiced and understood to the Jews and so when Jesus was speaking about judging others, he knew at just the right angle to come from for them to grasp the meaning of what He was telling them.

We are all born judges….our sin nature provide us with that desire. Yet, if we judge someone before we have judged ourselves and conclude our decision not based on love and forgiveness we have failed miserably in our judgment. We may not think that others know our hearts, but oh sweet friend, if we judge them wrongly, they can see….they may not see clearly, but oh they see or feel our judgment.

Just picture yourself walking up to a friend, family or fellow church member, all puffed up with the assurance that you are about to do them a favor by revealing to them some great sin that they have committed…(taking the splinter out of their eye for them) …..And you end up knocking them down with the huge beam in your own eye as you bend over to take their splinter out….that beam in your eye becomes a stumbling block to them at that point. While you may think your intentions are good, you had better be very careful or you will end up hurting yourself along with inflicting un-needed pain on them! More times than often, simply praying for someone can bring conviction, repentance and change to others far better than anything that we can say to them or do.

You can imagine how well that goes! The brother or sister with the splinter is offended and the one with the beam does not understand why they are so unwilling to come to grips with their sinful eye splinter! The whole time the one with the eye splinter just sees the big old beam in the eye of the one try to help them as just unrepentant hypocrisy; and they are easily turned off and turned away.

It is not that God can not use us to point out someone’s weakness or even sin. We just need to be mindful about it and do it the right way in a spirit of love, removing first our own sin and then we can genuinely help them with their eye splinters as we first recognize our deficiencies, prove our own work, remain humble brothers and sisters; and then we can look more carefully to help others with their difficulties. When thy realizes that we do not feel that we are better than they are, our attempt to assist will have much better results.

However, when we refuse to recognize our failures, we deceive ourselves, and it is easier for us to treat other people contemptuously. That is precisely why we must recognize our failures, even though it is very uncomfortable at times; it forces us into humility, understanding that we are really no better than anyone else, and that will allow us to show compassion and mercy to others and be like Christ to everyone we meet.

Loving you in the light of His truth!
Bren