Thursday, September 20, 2018

Matthew 7:1 say, Judge not, that ye be not judged.  I believe that this means that we are not to be judgmental.  It is easy to stand back and point out the faults of others and to feel justified in condemning them.  I don't believe that this means that we can never distinguish between right and wrong actions, but instead that we are not to judge the person who does wrong as deserving God's punishment and not God's grace and mercy.  If we judge the actions of others, it should be out of love for them, and never from an attitude of moral superiority, where we deserve God's forgiveness and someone else doesn't.  Verse two declares, For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.  If we judge others as only being worthy of punishment and not forgiveness, then Jesus tells us that we will be judged the same.  I believe that this is because if we are truly following Christ that we know that God is the judge of all people, and that we ourselves are but sinners saved by grace.  As such, we are not qualified to act as the judge of someone else's sin.  We are to point out sin in the world and stand against it, but we are never to judge any sinner, no matter how great his or her sin, as being undeserving of forgiveness.  Verse three asks, And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?   Jesus asks us why we can so easily see the smallest sin in others and not acknowledge the much larger sin in our own lives.  By the very fact that we are attempting to judge the worthiness of others, we are placing ourselves in a position of moral superiority, and only God can claim this position.  Verse four asks, Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Jesus is asking why we would notice and offer to help correct the faults of others and ignore correcting our own faults.  Sometimes it is easier to sit in judgment and condemnation of others than it is to acknowledge our own faults.  If this occurs, then we begin to feel morally superior to the other person.  Verse five declares, Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.  Jesus tells us when we do judge the actions of others without first examining and correcting the faults in our own lives that we are hypocrites.  As long as we are unwilling to confess and ask God's forgiveness for the sins in our lives, we are certainly not to point out the sins in another person's life as though we are better than them.  Jesus also says that once we have removed the sin from our own lives that we can then help the other person.  Verse six says, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.  I believe that Jesus is warning us against misusing the things belonging to God.  This would even include our own bodies, since as followers of Christ we belong to God.  If we do give the things that God blesses us with, our pearls, to those who are not God's people, the swine, then we should not be surprised if they ultimately attack us.  We should never attempt to buy peace with the lost world, but should always put following God's will for our lives first.

No comments:

Post a Comment