Matthew 7: 1-5
“JUDGE NOT, THAT YOU BE NOT JUDGED. FOR WITH WHAT JUDGMENT YOU JUDGE, YOU WILL BE JUDGED; AND WITH THE MEASURE YOU USE, IT WILL BE MEASURED BACK TO YOU. AND WHY DO YOU LOOK AT THE SPECK IN YOUR BROTHER’S EYE, BUT DO NOT CONSIDER THE PLANK IN YOUR OWN EYE? OR HOW CAN YOU SAY TO YOUR BROTHER, ‘LET ME REMOVE THE SPECK FROM YOUR EYE’; AND LOOK, A PLANK IS IN YOUR OWN EYE? HYPOCRITE! FIRST REMOVE THE PLANK FROM YOUR OWN EYE, AND THEN YOU WILL SEE CLEARLY TO REMOVE THE SPECK FROM YOUR BROTHER’S EYE. NEW KING JAMES VERSION
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.” The Message
“Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you [use to] deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you. Why do you [a]stare from without at the [b]very small particle that is in your brother’s eye but do not become aware of and consider the beam [c]of timber that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, Let me get the tiny particle out of your eye, when there is the beam [d]of timber in your own eye? You hypocrite, first get the beam of timber out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the tiny particle out of your brother’s eye.” Amplified Version
I am deeply troubled by the spirit of judgment which seems to be running rampant in the “Christian” church. It masquerades as benign but is really a malignant, religious spirit which grows and overtakes the user and those who participate in it. If Jesus Himself said He didn’t come to condemn the world, who are we to do the same? “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17. It is our responsibility to share the Gospel , not shove it down their throats. It is our responsibility to love unconditionally, not hate them because of their sins. It is our responsibility to judge not, lest we be judged in the same way we judge them. It is our responsibility to show them The Way, not be a stumbling block in their way.
Too often, people (the unsaved) want NOTHING to do with Church and church folk because of the criticism and condemnation which comes from those who think they have the right to point out the others sins and condemn them for it. Not once in the Word do you read that Jesus condemned ANYONE for what they did: prostitute, tax collector, demon-possessed, adulterer, unclean, whoremonger, woman at the well, cheater, doubter, thief and robber, murderer, et al. He may have pointed out to them what they did but He didn’t condemn them for it. Definition is NOT the same as Judgment. ie – This man just robbed a bank vs This man is going to hell because he just robbed a bank.
Most people already know they are lost. That is why they are looking everywhere for something which will bring them into a place of safety, something/someone who will “find” them. THAT’S what the GOOD NEWS is!! Though you may be lost, you may have done things which leave you guilty and hell bound but there is Someone who has paid the price for your sins and will make you brand new…no matter WHAT your sin may be.
People of God…stop standing in judgment of what others had done. It’s not cute. It’s not biblical. It’s not drawing them closer to the Lord. It’s not what you are called to do. If you do point out a sin to someone, do it only as a prophetic word to let them know God knows them inside and out AND STILL LOVES THEM, as should you.
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