THE PLANK IN YOUR EYE

096– AUGUST 2011
THINK ABOUT IT

I am very aware of the urge to cast judgments. That cerebral ego action satisfies my fleshy flesh, however … to not judge others is a good thing.
There are many reasons to withhold your all-important examination and psychoanalysis towards others. I have listed 3:

1. We do not know the whole story. Too often, we draw conclusions based on just a
few tidbits of information.
I remember a particular guy that played in the men’s’ softball league. He was hot headed, yelled obscenities at the opposing team, and wasn’t super nice to his own teammates. No one liked him and the popular comment towards him was “What a jerk!”
I happened upon him at a noontime restaurant. We decided for a quick lunch together and I listened to his very sad story of childhood abuse. I always viewed him a bit differently after I had this time to listen. That lunch time changed my life. It caused me to cut people slack by recognizing that, most times, I do not have sufficient information to make a wise judgment.

2. We have our own baggage. With all of the flaws and shortcomings in our own
lives, it seems rather silly to speak bad words about someone else.

Luke 6:41-42 “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, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Think about that. Read it again … if you dare.

3. It will come back on you. It is too easy to stand on the outside of someone’s life and make hasty judgments that are usually faulty. You can be sure that others have done this to you and …

“Matthew 7:1-2 “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.

I want to breathe easily when thinking that God will judge me in the same manner
that I judge others, therefore I am determined to rise above this shameful itch of the flesh. It makes no sense and is, quite simply, a substandard and unacceptable way to perform.
1 Cor 13:11 “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”