You Are Not A Judge

You Are Not A Judge “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?” Matthew 7:3 It is so easy for people to find fault with others, but not to see any fault in their own lives. We are eager to give advice to tell others what they should do and not do, but when it comes to ourselves, we can see nothing wrong about our own lives. God has given us many scriptures, such as the one above, that tells us not to be judgmental about others, as we do not know what is in their hearts, as only God knows. He tells us that he is the only one that will have the ultimate right to judge them. Many times when we try to judge others, we have made our decisions on false assumptions or information we have obtained from others. Outward appearances are a poor criteria upon which to base any conclusions about anyone. A good example of judging others, which went wrong, is found by looking at the people of Israel. When they reached their Promised Land they sent spies ahead to see what awaited them. Ten of the spies came back and reported a land of giants awaited them if they entered. This report caused them to stay in the wilderness for forty years before they entered the land God had promised them. They had judged wrong and were made to be punished for this. We have to be careful as Christians to judge others, as many times what we see on the surface is not what is in their hearts and on the inside. There is not much leeway in God’s scripture, when we begin to judge others. Instead of being critical of them, we need to thank God for them, and ask God to bless them, and to reveal his will to them. We need to evaluate our own lives and determine if we are living up to God’s standards. We need to see if we are being the kind of person God wants us to be instead of judging others. Robert W. Brock My Daily Devotional Volume Seven February 11