Matthew 7:1-14
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.
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 9:13
Learn Mercy
13 But go and learn what this means: "'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Today's media seems to try to immediately grab our attention...There always nowadays to seem to have breaking news...Man is curious...We read people's headlines, magazines, websites, articles, and books to learn things...We seek to learn...We want knowledge and we do seek wisdom...And in our search we see there are differing kinds of knowledge...I am not sure in our curiosity that some of the things we learn about are good and useful knowledge...Learning about people, such as our presidents and past presidents can be rewarding and reading about our favorite sports stars and celebrity stars can be fun...But some and many of the articles we read about today are more related to gossip, than what one might call the seeking of knowledge...Most would agree that some of the things that we learn about are less important that other information we seek and find...Can we seek knowledge and wisdom in the wrong way and in the wrong places?...Are we using our time and energies in the proper way?...
There are several TV stations that have banners and the side or the side of the TV screen we see and sometimes it announces about a person having a problem in their lives...And instead of announcing it just once, the banner will continue to regularly come around so we can view it over and over again...Sometimes we will see someone's problems or troubles for one day and sometimes we see their problems for many days, as the station continues to show the headline...They not only show these criticizing news on TV, but also the headlines and news stories of celebrity, politician, and sports stories are on the internet and our papers regularly...It seems we like to read the dirty laundry and the problems of others...Why else would we see so many news stories about peoples problems and issues?...The headlines seem to be more and more often telling the reader or viewer the troubles and problems of a sports figure, a celebrity, a politician, or someone else of some fame (that is recognizable)...These stories are so very quick to make our headlines, and it is becoming difficult to avoid them...This is because many media outlets today, seem to want to quickly publish the a criticizing, scandalous story...
When we criticize someone who is having problems, even though they are in the public eye are we judging them as we spotlight them and their personal problems?...Aren't they too are neighbor?...
Jesus teaches us not to judge others...The way we judge others is how we will be judged...The measure we think and others in our judgments of them is how God will measure and judge us...How can we tell our brother to me take the speck out of his eye, when all the time there is a plank in our own eye?...We are hypocrites when we judge others, we must first take the plank out of our own eye, and then we will see clearly to remove the speck from our brother’s eye...We need to first stop sinning all together before we can judge others...Let us learn about the mercy for others, because we are sinners...