Judging Others

I am a firm believer that in life, we reap what we sow. We get back, what we’ve given. If we judge, we’ll be judged. If we forgive, we will be forgiven. These thoughts have been rolling around in my mind for the past several days. 

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher. “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye^[c] when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, ‘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.” (Luke 6:37-42, NLT)

Our words and actions are powerful; take them seriously. When we judge people, we pick on them. Don’t pick on people, don’t jump on their failures or criticize their faults – unless I guess, you want the same treatment. Scripture is clear – we should not judge others. And not only are we not suppose to judge others, but we aren’t suppose to let others fools us with lies and with their version of the truth. We must discern others motives, but allow God to judge their motives and their is a huge difference…

Judgement is a choice. When we choose to not judge others it releases the love of God in our lives and enables us to help others, even those who hurt us. So before we judge others, we must judge ourselves. We shall be judged by our words and actions. We are being judged by our words and actions. Not only will God judge us at the end of our lives, but people are watching us, and judging us right now; and we receive from people exactly what we give. When we choose to not judge others it releases the love of God in our lives and we will receive from people, exactly what we give.

Judging others clouds of vision. We must see clearly to help others. Christians are obligated to help each other grow in grace. Don’t judge and criticize in order for yourself to just look good. Jesus choose the symbol of the eye in Luke 6 because this is one of the most sensitive areas of the body. The picture of a man with a 2×4 stuck in his eye, trying to help someone else remove a speck of dust from their eye is ridiculous – it’s crazy.

If we don’t honestly face up to our own sins, and confess them, we blind ourselves and we’ll never be able to truly help others grow in grace. If we are blind ourselves then we can’t seen clearly enough to help others. And perhaps that is what this teaching in Luke 6 is all about – the reality that all of us have issues and all of has elements in our lives that are causing us to not see clearly. But instead of focusing on our own problems we want to point out the person in the room with a bigger problem and hope it is large enough that no one will notice yours.

What God has been teaching me is that we must exercise love and tenderness when we seek to help others.  Ephesians 4:15 says, “Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ…” Here is another truth to get: we can do more damage than a speck of something in the eye if we approach others with impatience and insensitivity. How we judge others and who we are must be honestly judged before the Lord. 

It’s only after we have judged ourselves honestly before God, and have removed those things that blind us, then we can help others and properly judge their works. Scripture is clear – if we haven’t take the time to be honest with ourselves before the Lord and if their even a speck of something in our lives, and we try to “help” others, we are the hypocrites.