“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others.The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye."
It is hard for me to live these words most days. I usually fall short of the standard the God has set for His followers to reach. It is often all to easy to rationalize ways and reasons to tear down my fellow man. I like to try to make myself look better at the expense of those around me; if I compare myself to "X" I am doing better than them. I find some sort of satisfaction in that fact.
But the truth if the matter is I cannot cover my inequities by saying that "X" is worse than me, for that is not the way that God's judgement works. Anything less than perfection is missing His standard. That my dear friends is called sin; missing the standard set by God. Yet I like to use that word as a weapon; "SIN" an easy word to be brandished as a scarlet letter for any who offend me. It is so much easier to focus on other's sin than to admit my own.
This all stems from my work; I work retail and it is 9 days before Christmas. I see the amount of "peace on earth and goodwill to men" there actually is amongst people "discussing" who saw the last Wii first and therefore should be entitled to it. I look in disgust at people who berate my co-worker or even me for being out of the one item that would make a perfect gift for so and so. I think in the smuggest voice I know "Merry Christmas". I judge these people!
How much more enjoyable could my job be right now if I weren't "sinning" based on the attitude of these people? What am I doing that is causing fellow man sin by giving them an opportunity to judge me? Even worse, in my eyes, what sins am I committing through omission, that is to say not doing the things that God is telling me to do? As I have grown in my koinonia with God I find that this is the log I am more apt to miss, the log I desperately need to get rid of!
But the truth if the matter is I cannot cover my inequities by saying that "X" is worse than me, for that is not the way that God's judgement works. Anything less than perfection is missing His standard. That my dear friends is called sin; missing the standard set by God. Yet I like to use that word as a weapon; "SIN" an easy word to be brandished as a scarlet letter for any who offend me. It is so much easier to focus on other's sin than to admit my own.
This all stems from my work; I work retail and it is 9 days before Christmas. I see the amount of "peace on earth and goodwill to men" there actually is amongst people "discussing" who saw the last Wii first and therefore should be entitled to it. I look in disgust at people who berate my co-worker or even me for being out of the one item that would make a perfect gift for so and so. I think in the smuggest voice I know "Merry Christmas". I judge these people!
How much more enjoyable could my job be right now if I weren't "sinning" based on the attitude of these people? What am I doing that is causing fellow man sin by giving them an opportunity to judge me? Even worse, in my eyes, what sins am I committing through omission, that is to say not doing the things that God is telling me to do? As I have grown in my koinonia with God I find that this is the log I am more apt to miss, the log I desperately need to get rid of!
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