Words Of Jesus Devotionals-19

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, Let me remove the speck from your eye; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Perhaps we may not judge overtly, but how many times, in our hearts we judge our brothers and sisters;their dressing, their talking, their mannerisms, their work for the Lord and so many other things. Sometimes we may drop a hint and sometimes pass judgement publicly. But Jesus says it will come back to us in some way or the other.

Are we seeing things clearly? is the question Jesus asks. That would need the planks to be removed from our eyes. During Jesus' days, the Pharisees walked with planks in their eyes and tried to remove the specks from others eyes including Jesus'.

When the sign outside the Church read "Remove footwear before entering", the visiting preacher had dared to enter the Church with his shoes on. Not many that day listened to what the priest said for the first part of the service. Almost all were passing judgments on the preachers arrogance of ignoring their church sign. "How dare he do that, when the sign clearly says it" was the thought that had invaded many minds. There were many murmurs.

The priest finally asked the visiting preacher to come forward to preach the sermon. He started by sharing his testimony of how as a soldier, he lived in sin and later went to war and lost his right leg to bullet wounds; he was wearing a prosthetic leg. When he said that, a few gasps were heard, from of course those who had been judging him all through. He said, he had seen the sign outside, but he had no other option but to walk in with his prosthetic limb and shoes on.

Some believers may not be as strong as us spiritually, because there are several levels of growth in Christ; so rather than passing judgments on them, we should help them grow and attain maturity and become mature ourselves.