May 22, 2015

Matthew 7:1-6 reads this, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.  For you will be treated as you treat others.  The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.  And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?  How can you think of saying to your 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.  Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy.  Don’t throw your pearls to pigs!  They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

There are so many verses in the Bible taken out of context and people just want to read and recite what may benefit them.  One of those verses is above, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged,” and they stop right there.  If you continue to read it goes on to say “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.  The word is gives there is deal with, or help, not lash out at and throw judgement at, but comfort and offer a strong hand.  We can’t offer a strong hand if we are weak from the log in our own eye.  An example of this would be an alcoholic or drunkard who confronts another alcoholic and tries to tell him what he is doing is wrong, what place do they have when they have the exact same problem.

Instead, Matthew 18:15-17, sheds some light on this.  “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you.  If they listen to you, you have won them over.  But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.  If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”  So go to your friend, brother, or sister and talk to them, don’t go in thinking its a battle you can win or lose, but an opportunity to help them grow.  Now days the place for disputes and people casting judgement is on social media and that is not the way to handle these situations.

Now there will be people and friends that you can’t help and that is what the last verse is saying, Matthew 7:6, “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy.  Don’t throw your pearls to pigs!  They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.  So why throw wisdom and knowledge at a person who has no drive to be different and to change, all that will come from this is they will throw down your ideas and then attack you, and I have seen this countless times on the Internet, people attacking others verbally from one or two comments that were made and no one is better off.  If we can learn the difference between judging someone and helping someone then we would be so much better off.