Look Closely

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

LOOK CLOSELY

Matt 7:1-5

7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "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? 4 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? 5 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.

NIV

How easy it is to have a critical outlook about others. It is very easy to see the faults in others than the ones we have within. Maybe in some respects it comes down to thinking more of ourselves then we should. Although we might also justify our correcting others under the guise of wanting to help them be a better person. But the fact is that Jesus tells us with whatever measure we use to see others, we will be seen with that same measure. So if we look upon others with a critical mind, we will be seen with a critical mind. The thing here is that Jesus does not mention who will be looking at us with that critical mind. Would it be the other people, or would it be God? The point it seems Jesus is making is that we simply are not qualified to judge or correct others for their faults as our faults are even greater than theirs simply by judging or thinking we are so right in showing them the errors of their ways. It is far easier to be the sidewalk superintendent then to actually dig in and do the work we are being critical of. This can apply in various applications. We could put this principle to work toward our government officials, our company owners or immediate supervisors, or even with a co-worker. Although it seems even easier to apply this within our families or with people we are very familiar with. However this should be where we are the most aware of how this works, for with those who we are the most familiar with, they too are that familiar with us and thus see many, if not all our faults too. So if we become critical of them, no doubt it would be very easy for them to criticize us. This would then meet the being measured with what we measure rule. What Jesus is saying about getting the plank out of our eye so we can clearly see the speck in the others, is indicating why we judge them for some error, our judgement is even a greater error. So it comes down to live and let live. This does not preclude us from going to a brother who sins against us. This concept may have been taken out of context that Jesus speaks about later in this record of Matthew.

Matt 18:15-17

15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'   17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

NIV

It is not about a brother caught in sin, it is about a brother who sins against you. It is not about judging the sins of others because we have enough of them ourselves, but it is about when a person, a fellow believer commits a sin against us. An example would be if he stole something from us, or he maligned our character publicly, with a false witness or whatever else would be considered sinning against us personally. Then we should go privately to them and work it out. But this has nothing to do with the teaching of Jesus about not judging or we will be judged, or the plank and the speck. This has nothing to do with just going to them and telling them they are doing something wrong, or having a wrong attitude, or saying something that sounds unkind, or would give people a wrong impression of them or whatever. This is teaching about going to a brother is strictly about when that brother sins against us. So let us back up to what Jesus was saying here about the plank and the speck. Simply put we do not have any room to confront openly or have an attitude inwardly about another person’s faults. So in reality is does come down to live and let live. The law of love applies here, rather than judging according to the law. Before we look at anyone else we need to look at ourselves closely.