Matthew 7:1-6
Jesus on Judging Others
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.
6 “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.
Mark 10:13-16
Little Children and Jesus
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms,placed his hands on them and blessed them.
When Jesus tells us not to judge others that can be difficult...One and one’s family and friends might have a reason they talk about and judge others...So we are not only affected by our own thoughts but we sometimes may judge others by the comments and actions of our family and friends...We might not even know someone who a friend has judged and their speaking about them might get us to judge someone whom we have never even met...
On the other hand, if we were more like little children with all their naiveté, we can somehow look past these negative comments and be more positive toward others, when we are very young...I do not think a very, very young child gives as much negative thought to hurting others as one who is older, but that is only a guess...Forgiving and looking past other people's faults and flaws seems to be a quality of the very young...For the very young it seems they lean more toward the positive and less toward the negative of people they are with...
Jesus seems to be teaching us that the very young refuses to participate in the stirring of things that might hurt others and tends to go about their day to work things out with the one’s that they are around....Little children do not focus on harming others...Judging and being cruel toward others seems to be something we learn over time...The very young, as you watch them with others, seem to have this wonderful loving attitude toward all their neighbors...