I think we should be careful not to be too critical of others. Jesus provided insight into human nature in the first two verses of Matthew 7 when we said, "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."
It seems if we examine ourselves as closely as we examine others we'll notice we are guilty of the same or similar idiosyncrasies or qualities that we criticize.
Continuing in chapter 7, Jesus offers a suitable alternative: "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."
There is only one person you can control and change; yourself. We'll probably be amazed at how much others improve when we alter our perspective.
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3 comments:
Bret. Define "judging" and that will help this conversation a lot. I agree with your overriding point that we do "judge" too much but in some cases I think our society has moved to such a "don't judge me" culture (esp. in Christian circles) that while bad judging is still going on we have missed out on "good judging" that could potentially move people toward Christ. Thoughts?
The concept of "good judging"...I'm intrigued by the direction of this perspective. Maybe similar to the sermon you shared with me a few weeks ago when the pastor referred to "rebuking in love"? Can you expound on your thoughts on this?
As for this particular post, it stemmed from a self-awareness of a growing disposition to be overly critical of others' idiosyncracies and personalities just in time to catch myself engaged in the same act moments later. I figure it's probably best to keep my mouth shut and take the plank out of my own eye before addressing the speck of sawdust in my brother's eye - as is probably best for all of us.
I think you are on to something, Kyle. I think there is a time to criticize a brother when we observe him straying from the path of righteousness. But that rebuke should be done in love and not hypocritically behind his back.
Kyle (or anyone who wants to comment), do you think the church has become too inclusive? Has the church softened or ignored some of Christ's commands/demands/expectations in order that people won't be turned off by Christianity? In our attempts to not scare them away have we actually lost sight of what it truly means to be a disciple? I like the question, "What's the difference between a disciple and a Christian?" The answer, according to Dallas Willard, and I agree, should be, "Nothing."
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