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Online! | | Before We Judge Others by Tim Dilena | | A concerned husband went to see the family doctor. “I think my wife is deaf,” he said. “She never hears me the first time I say something.”
“Go home tonight,” the doctor suggested. “Stand fifteen feet from her, and say something. If she doesn’t reply, move five feet closer and say it again. Keep doing this so we can get an idea of the severity of her deafness.”
The husband went home and did exactly as instructed. “Honey, what’s for dinner?” he said. No response, so he moved five feet closer and asked, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” Finally, he moved right behind her and asked the question again.
“For the fourth time,” she said, “chicken!”
Guess who was actually the deaf one?
We can laugh over this story, but it tells an important truth: we always assume it’s the other person who has the problem.
Jesus addressed this issue in the last part of the Sermon on the Mount. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 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?” (Matthew 7:1-3, ESV). As the great nineteenth-century preacher Charles H. Spurgeon aptly put it, “None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves.”
I have asked couples in marriage counseling to name their ‘logs’ before telling me their spouse’s ‘specks.’ It’s amazing how hard it is for them to think of their own issues. F. B. Meyer, once said, “When we see a brother or sister in sin, there are three things we do not know and [must] keep in mind before we pass judgment: First, we do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin. Second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her. Third, we do not know what we would have done in the same circumstances.” Good words to remember.
If you want to judge, judge yourself first. Logs before specks. You’ll be so busy getting rid of your own log that you won’t have time for others’ specks. Get this and you will build deep, meaningful, long-term relationships.
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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
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|  2023/11/18 13:45 | Profile | TMK
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| | Re: Before We Judge Others by Tim Dilena | | Beware of Criticizing Others
By Oswald Chambers
Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1
Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.
There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
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Todd
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| | 2023/11/18 14:23 | Profile | AbideinHim
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Louisiana
| | Re: | | Great posts Brothers! God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Remember the proud Pharisee that judged the repentant sinner, and the man that cried out for mercy was the one that went away justified. Never say, I would never do what this fallen brother has done. We can only stand by the grace of God.
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)
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Mike
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| | 2023/11/18 17:43 | Profile |
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