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Judging Others
(Matthew 7.1-5)
37Jesus said:
Don't judge others, and God won't judge you. Don't be hard on others, and God won't be hard on you. Forgive others, and God will forgive you. 38If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.
39 Jesus also used some sayings as he spoke to the people. He said:
Can one blind person lead another blind person? Won't they both fall into a ditch? 40 Are students better than their teacher? But when they are fully trained, they will be like their teacher.
41You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own eye. 42How can you say, “My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you don't see the log in your own eye? You show-offs! First, get the log out of your own eye; then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend's eye.
Reflect
I am near-sighted, which is to say that I can well see things that are right in front of my face, while anything more than about ten feet away becomes distorted and unclear. Without the corrective vision provided by my glasses, I would have a hard time making my way in life.
Clearness of vision is critically important to the servant of Christ. Blind people don’t make very good leaders. There are too many pits and perils one can fall into when one cannot see the way. Of course it is hard to see clearly with a log stuck inside one’s eye.
Hypocrisy is basically a vision problem. It is amazing how easily we see the faults of others when we are unaware of the faults we bear ourselves. The nature of hypocrisy is that the hypocrite is blind to it.
The hypocrite naturally feels unduly put upon. Lacking the ability to see things in perspective, the hypocrite always feels judged, always feels condemned, always feels unforgiven – never appreciating the judgment and condemnation he or she is doling out to others. Life for the hypocrite is strewn with pitfalls.
The solution is to see the spar that needs to be removed from one’s own eye. With vision corrected, it is amazing what a person can see. Grace in abundance suddenly becomes available, granted in full measure – like a sack of grain that is sifted, shaken, pressed down, and running over – the only measure heaven knows.
This encouragement is to live far-sightedly – to live with heaven in mind. The key to log- removal is to see the log for what it is from God’s perspective. Having been repulsed by our own sin, we become gracious, even as we receive the grace sufficient for our own log-shaped transgression.
Respond
Dear Lord, I confess to my lack of perspective in viewing my own life. Show me my sin so that I might repent of it. Make me gracious to others, to match the grace that I have first received from you. I will be ever grateful. Amen.
Kenton Anderson
Kent is President of Northwest Baptist Seminary and Professor of Homiletics at ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University. His most recent book is Integrative Preaching (Baker 2017). He is also a columnist with Preaching magazine. Kent and his wife Karen, a chaplain, have three adult children and three grandchildren, and live in Vancouver, BC.