Matthew 7:1-5 Judge not,
that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be
judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you
again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt
thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye;
and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite,
first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see
clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
The other day, my neighbor on the left was complaining about how
much noise my neighbor in front was making. This struck me as kinda'
odd, seems as how, my neighbor on the left yells louder and more
often than anyone I've met. (And I've met people who can yell
louder than an A-10 during takeoff.)
Yet, many times, we are the same way. We can see other people's problems with crystal clarity, while turning a blind eye on our own. Usually the problems are far more important than which neighbor makes the most noise. We are to avoid such hypocrisy. Proverbs 11:9 An hopocrite with his mouth destroyeh his neighbor: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. If I hadn't known better I would have believed that my neighbor in the front was the noisiest. While that isn't a big deal, just imagine if the problem was one of some consequence.
Even if the neighbor in front was louder, the neighbor to the left shouldn't have judged him. We see in the first part of the passage from Matthew "for with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged. ". In judginging the noisey neighbor, he has set a higher standard for himself. I, being a witness of his condemnation, would expect him to be quiet at all times, which is something pretty close to impossible. When he finally was noisey, he would loose his credibility, at least in my eyes. Again, imagine this scenario was about something important. Makes quite a difference doesn't it.
This is why the Lord tells us not to judge the brethren. If we are a hypocrite, it hurts our brother. Even if our judgement is accurate, we are just setting ourselves up for a fall. No good can come of it. So, the next time you start finding fault with a brother, take a good look at yourself. I did, and you know what I realized. MY CIRCULAR SAW IS LOUDER THAN BOTH OF THEM!!!
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