My mamma really loves making glass beads, and she is extremely good at it. Like, inordinately good. However, one time she made a crucial mistake in heating up a piece of glass, resulting in it shattering. She felt the hot glass on her face, obviously, but she didn't feel the most dangerous effect of the accident until later. A few nights after the glass rod exploded, she felt something in her eye while blinking and ended up pulling out a glass shard almost an inch long that had gone perfectly into her pupil. That's kind of a gross and scary story, but she was fortunately not harmed and she can see just as well.
Every time I think about that story, I think about Jesus saying these words in Matthew 7: "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye."
Those are interesting words, and are often grossly misused. Have you ever had someone tell you not to judge them? Have you ever used this passage to reject something that someone had to say to you? Me too, on both counts. Let's examine this.
Judging is something that no one wants to subject to, but everyone wants to participate in. It is for this reason that we get frustrated when someone calls something out in us or when someone rejects our words for them. So, no one is satisfied with judging on either end. Why? The scriptures speak to us with these words from John 7: 19 “Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. 22 For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
So, is Jesus saying not to judge at all in Matthew 7? Probably not. It's pretty convenient to take the first verse and ignore the second, but it's pretty important to examine the entire passage in light of this question: how does God judge you? Does He want sin in your life? Does He want to gloss it over? No! In the passage in John, Jesus is saying, "you have been given the Law and claim to know all about it, yet I fulfill the Law, tell you the truth, and you're trying to kill me!" Jesus is by no means advocating passivity and no accountability for what you are doing. He is instead commanding us to be perfect as God is perfect and judge how God judges you!
It's interesting that Jesus used the analogy of the log and the splinter. It's not wrong to pick out a splinter from a friend's eye, but it's just silly if you try to do so while making yourself into a tri-pod with a 2x4 sticking out of your face! There are some major medical issues that are being completely ignored for the sake of pointing our smaller ones.
Similarly, Jesus calls me to judge my brother rightly. It just seems silly for me to call a guy out for something I have many things wrong with myself and I'm not willing to accept treatment for my own maladies.
The root of our push-back to judgement is this: rebuke a foolish man and he will hate you. Rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Don't believe me? Proverbs 9:8 says this: "Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, reprove a wise man and he will love you." Are you willing to let Jesus reveal your wounds and impediments? Are you willing to let Him heal them? If not, it is willful hatred of God. Accept the rebuke and mercy and grace of God. Who He loves, He disciplines (Hebrews 12:6, Proverbs 3:12 Revelation 3:19).
Again, how does God judge you? Has He forgiven you? Is He sanctifying you? Has He adopted you? If you are in Christ, the answers to all of these things are yes. Your Father loves you. Don't forsake judging, but instead do so rightly and in love.
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