Matt 7:1-4
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
KJV
The first verse of this passage has often been quoted in attempts to silence people who would speak out against sin. Does this interpretation truly apply? I think not. In fact, if context means anything, it tells us that we should be careful of ourselves before we would judge others.
The issue that is being addressed here is the issue of one who has a beam (large piece of hewn timber) in his eye trying to remove a mote (speck of dust) from the eye of another. This analogy portrays one who has great faults trying to help one with lesser faults deal with those faults. If one would form a mental picture of a man with a 2X12X12 in his eye trying to get a microscopic speck of dust out of someone else’s eye it would be somewhat humorous. Yet, it is pitiful at the same time. You see, the man with the beam has no idea that it is in his eye. It seems that we tolerate amazingly heinous sins in our lives, but are irritated by the little things we see in the lives of others.
Ultimately, we must heed the old proverb that says “One must clean up around his own doorstep before going to clean his brother’s house.”
If we do not do so, but spend our time criticizing and condemning our brethren, the lack of mercy that we show them will be the lack of mercy that we experience.
Matt 7:1,2
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Just musing…
