Matthew 7:1-5
Thoughts from Pastor Brian
Dive Deeper
“Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!”
Matthew 7:1-5
Behind the Scenes
Judgementalism is not a new issue in the least. In fact, we see it from almost the first moments after the fall when Adam and Eve start throwing each other under the bus. We as people tend to be incredibly judgmental of others. But this is not God’s best for us. In this passage, Jesus is making a few points that really come down to our hearts.
First, He reminds us that when we judge others, we are setting ourselves up to be judged. None of us is perfect and we all make mistakes. But when we put ourselves above others, we make it easier for others to judge us. When we put ourselves on a pedestal, we’ve got even farther to fall when we mess up and we’ve made our brokenness more visible for others to see. Instead, when we leave the judging to God, then we can remain on even ground with our brothers and sisters.
Second, there are often times that God calls us to help our brothers and sisters take the “speck” out of their eyes. But we are fully incapable of doing this when we are focused so strongly on their flaws and not working on our own. Instead, we should be working on taking the “logs” out of our own eyes so that we can actually be helpful in the lives of others.
See, in both reminders, Jesus is pointing to our heart. He is reminding us that it’s not about us! When we keep our hearts where they are supposed to be, look at our brothers and sisters as equals, and commit to constantly grow in righteousness in our own lives- then we are uniquely positioned to be used by God to help our brothers and sisters. But He will not use people who are proud and arrogant toward His children.
Make it Real
So, what is it about our nature that makes this so hard? I think there are a few things that cause us to fall into the trap of judgementalism and thereby disqualify ourselves for the greater work of the gospel. First, I think we fall into judgmentalism because of our insecurities. It’s much more comfortable for us to look at other people’s faults than our own. We can fall into the trap of measuring ourselves against other people in order to make ourselves feel better. But the problem with this is that you are always comparing and when God does a work in that person’s life and heals and restores them, you end up feeling worse because of your comparing. We don’t root for our brothers and sisters to get better. Instead, deep down we hope they stay broken so that we can feel better about ourselves.
Another thing that causes us to stumble into judgementalism is pride. When we start thinking we’ve got it all figured out, we can start to look at others and judge them. But what we have forgotten is that we are all at different places in our walk with the Lord and He alone sees the heart. He knows when our brothers and sisters are struggling, when they are hurting, when they are growing and learning. He knows how fast to push them so they will not break. He knows what is happening on the inside that we cannot see. But when we look from our limited perspective and make judgement calls over their lives, we always look with a faulty and imperfect eye. We never have all the facts and we will always make a false judgement.
At the end of the day, our poor judgement is always rooted in comparison. Our motives are always prideful and self-centered, whether we think we are better or worse than those around us. But this is not the life that our God called us to. This is not the way His children should be. Instead, He calls each of us to be firmly rooted and built up in Him alone (Col. 2:7). He calls us to gain our worth from Him and stop looking to everyone else to compare. And when we do that, when we stand on who He says we are and who He says He is, then we will be uniquely positioned to love our brothers and sisters well.
Because we were made for community. We were made to help each other grow and change. That’s why Jesus doesn’t say in this passage that you can never take a “speck” out of your brother’s eye. But we have to have the “log” of pride and judgmentalism completely removed from our eyes before we can see clearly to be helpful to our brothers and sisters. If not, we will only hurt them more. Like a blind eye surgeon, it will be impossible for us not to screw up.
So, let’s take a heart check this week, stand firm on who God says He is and what He says is true about us. And instead of looking at our brothers and sisters in judgement, let’s look at each other in love and community. Let’s all strive together to be unified as one, no one better than another, all working together for the common good, in the name of Jesus.
Crystal Garnett
ACF Digital Discipleship Team Lead
End in Prayer
Lord,
Help me to see where my pride is causing a judgmental heart in me. Help me to see where I have fallen short of trusting you, and letting You alone be the judge. Help me to let go of comparison and pride so that I can be used by You to serve my brothers and sisters. And please help me to identify the “logs” in my eye that are getting in the way.
In Jesus Name,
Amen