Judging Others

Downloadable Reflection Guide

1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the  judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Out of context, Matthew 7:1 sounds like a   blanket prohibition for all judgment. That is not however the actual implications of what Jesus is teaching here. In a sense, this is the reverse    approach to understanding how Jesus instructs us to pray for forgiveness, “forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.” Seen this way, we learn that Jesus is warning us not to ask for judgment similar to the kind of judgment that we might be tempted to judge others with.

 The visual example of the speck and the plank is rich imagery if we take the time to consider how foolish we would actually look with a beam of wood extending from our faces. Just take a moment and really imagine what you would look like to others with a piece of wood sticking out of your eye. How would you even be able safely to reach over to a friend to help them remove the speck in their eye? How could you even see the speck? You’d just end up beating your friend over the head with your own plank, which is what Jesus wants us to understand.

When we, in our own false self-righteousness, ignore the impact of our own sin and jump to judging others on the perception of guilt that they may bear related to their own sin, we end up doing far more harm than good. We simply are not in a position to know the heart or motivations of those around us that we might be tempted to judge. While we are called to offer judgment in the sense of recognizing right from wrong, we are not able to judge the heart the way God is able. When Jesus instructs us not to judge, He is not suggesting that we compromise biblical truth but rather that we put the best construction on the actions of others as we would hope that they would do for us. We are right to ask our friends about the sinful choices that they make, but we are not in the place to question why they do what they do. In humility and recognition of our own sin first, we are then better able to see clearly areas of concern for others and speak into their lives with love.

Thoughts for Reflection

What are the planks that you carry that prevent you from being able to see clearly?