Parker Inspirations

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?

⁵ Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

(Matthew 7:1-5) is frequently misunderstood. Jesus was warning against hypocritical, self-righteous condemnation. The emphasis is to remove one’s own faults before correcting others, urging humility, grace, and self-reflection rather than condemning others.

There is not one person walking on this earth that is perfect, without sin. The Bible even states in Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” However, as human beings we like to think we have better control than the person we are judging. I use the word we, because I am not without fault in this area. When we point our finger at someone, to point out their faults, we forget we have three fingers pointing back at us. God knew when he created man that they would be puffed up once in a while and think themselves to not be that bad. He used our hands as a living Biblical example, Judge not.

When I make a mistake and sin, I have full assurance that God will forgive me if I ask. (1John 1:9) Human beings are not so quick to forgive. I have known people who held a grudge for years. Oh, the fellowship and joy they have missed out on just because of something that they don’t even remember anymore. They just know they are mad at that person. Most times the other person is not even aware of them being mad at them. Even when you are aware and go to see why they are upset, they get madder, because you don’t remember what you did to make them mad in the first place. If I don’t remember I cannot fix it. I apologized anyway just to make peace. It does not matter who did what. Sometimes it is just more important to move forward.

When someone falls it is already hard enough to get up. One cannot get right if they are being pushed back down. There are churches that have a ministry to help addicts to turn their life around. They first show them how to go to Heaven. Then they help them grow spiritually and turn away from their addiction. Yet when they are wronged by someone, they called their friend, they don’t have the same compassion to help that brother turn around. I have heard Preachers my whole life who use the phrase: There by the grace of God go I. If we remind ourselves, we are also made of flesh, we are also a sinner, we can also fall. Then we will remember that only by God’s grace are we not the one that fell. Having the compassion of Christ is more important than anything else. Jesus died and forgave the sins of all mankind. Yet we have trouble forgiving one person. Are we better than Jesus? I think not. As a servant of Christ, we should be striving every day to be like Christ. This would include compassion and forgiveness. This would be a remembrance to Judge not, that ye be not judged.