Judging Others

 “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.

 “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.

 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7:1-6, NIV)

This is a tough passage to comment on, because it rings so close to home. Don’t we all judge others and not just some of the time, but all of the time. We don’t think that someone should get the job because we think they don’t have the proper education. We don’t think someone should have children because we think they aren’t good enough. We don’t want someone waiting on us at Kwik Trip because we don’t like how they look or how they talk. We don’t want to sit next to someone on the bus because we don’t like how they smell. We do it all the time. If we would just look in the mirror, we would see that we are the ones without the proper education, we are the ones that aren’t good enough. We look odd, we talk different, we smell funny. We have no right to judge.  

Unfortunately, and I hate to say this, but Christians are usually the ones judging. My daughter and I just talked about this yesterday. This is why she doesn’t go to church or believe in organized religion. Which makes me sad and causes me a great deal of worry, but I see where she’s coming from.  

Lord, help us to see the world with loving eyes, to see all people as equals. Remind us that You are the only Judge and Your opinion is the only one that counts. Amen

The kettle where I will plant some flowers in the spring is looking good, or at least it was when I took this picture a couple years ago. In reality, there is still a quite of bit of snow out there. But I am living in the prayerful expectancy of spring.