"And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?" ( Matthew 7:3 NLT).
I first heard this verse when I was in school at Ashland Christian School and Mrs. Osborne, my second grade teacher, taught it to us. Even hearing it that first time, the words of Matthew 7 stung. While the translation was a bit different that day, the truth remains the same. We look at the small sins in the lives of others and we are quick to latch onto them and judge others as worse off than ourselves. Yet by latching onto those sins there is a temptation to forget that we are guilty of the same sin--often in larger doses. But making this distinction takes spiritual discernment and spiritual maturity.
The judgmental nature of this behavior only grows year over year until the church stops attempting to help their neighbors to leave sin behind and move towards repentance and reconciliation with God.
Perhaps this is a practice we can repeat will help us stop looking harshly at our community and dwell with them as Jesus would calls us to?
Or perhaps you might prefer a different perspective on this age-old problem of judgment and sin. The poet Rumi offers this advice to his reader:
"When you notice a fault in your neighbor,
search for the same in yourself."
While likely mirroring the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, Rumi's words make us wonder, and they ask us to notice, how those around us are struggling. His words invite us to examine ourselves as we see the faults in others. Perhaps as we dwell with others, we can put the judgment away. This will not always be an easy practice--but it can be something we repeat with God's help.
With what remains of this week, and as you prepare to encounter Jesus in worship, would you be willing to search yourself in the very moment when you see faults in others? Would you be willing to judge yourself of the sins that the other person is committing?
Perhaps this can be a means to solidarity with the Lord and with the community?
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