As you judge you will be judged
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)
This is an interesting and tough subject because we all pass judgment on things every day. I appreciated the author's distinction between judgment and discernment. Judging others here has to do with being judgmental. That it seems to me comes from and plays into my prejudices. Someone looks different and therefore I judge them according to what I see and that may be way off base. Being judgmental makes me better than the other person and I let them know it.
My experience is that people are most judgmental in others about things they struggle with themselves. How often have you heard of a pastor rail against adultery only to find out they had been in an adulterous affair for years. Or one who rails against stealing and is later found to have embezzled money from the church. It is not just pastors though that have these problems. Being judgmental certainly does involve, as the author suggests, hypocrisy, lack of integrity and no mercy.
I want my life to reflect the life of Jesus so I must first get the log out of my eye, then help my brother with the dust in his eye and then offer forgiveness and mercy. O God, help me to live like that.
What difference would it make if we at FBC lived out these verses as Jesus instructs us to live?
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