Matthew 7:1-5 (NKJV): “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.
We all have heard it, “Only God can judge me.” People will use this verse and throw it at us and claim that we have no business “judging them.” However, as a Believer, we are encouraged in exhorting each other to do what is right. So, what are we to do, is there a contradiction in scripture?
The answer is no, there is not a contradiction. What we need to do is look at what Jesus is talking about here and what we learn when we look at Hebrews 3:
Hebrews 3:12-19 (NKJV): Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
It seems as if we are told in Hebrews that we are to encourage each other not to sin. There is even places where Jesus told us to examine fruit of others like in Matthew 12. Paul told Timothy that The Word is good for rebuking in 2 Timothy 3.
There are a couple of things Jesus is telling us here. We have to remember He is dealing with heart issues here when we look at This.
First, He is telling us that when we approach a brother or sister who is sinning, we need to approach them after considerable prayer. We need to be sure we are approaching them with a pure heart. We don’t want to approach them with a whip of sorts. We want to come to them in Love and humbly when we talk to them about how they have fallen away. We want to do it in a way that we lead them back to following Christ. We need to do it in a way that they know we are looking out for their best interests. Otherwise, we will have the same type of judgement from God. If we are harsh when we approach them, He will also be harsh with us.
The other thing we need to learn from this is that we cannot approach the world with correction like we would a brother or sister. Again, we need to be in prayer. The world is not going to look at sin the way we do. They don’t have conviction from The Lord like we do. Instead, if we approach them about something, we need to do it with Love, just like we do with our brothers and sisters, but it has to be done in a way that they would see it as how it harms them. In other words, we need to lead them to Christ through our actions. Again, we cannot bring a whip to them.
Mom either case, it is hard. We tend to want to bring whips, when really, others need kindness in correcting. Don’t get me wrong, there may be times for the whip, but we need to know it’s from God and not from us.
Is your heart critical? Spend sometime in prayer and in The Word. Serve others who are hurting and ask God to soften your heart. See what He does in you.
If we are to please God, we need to allow The Holy Spirit to set us apart. We need to pursue a sinless life. We are to seek Righteousness. How do we do it? Through prayer, study, fellowship, being willing to be corrected/accountability, discipleship, and service.
It starts with Our Relationship with Jesus. If you don’t have a Relationship with Him or you need to rekindle that Relationship, do it now. Call out to Him and seek his Love and Forgiveness. It really is as hard or easy as you make it.
We should look to Him daily to seek a relationship with Him. I want to encourage you to seek Him today, if you haven’t already. If you need help, have questions or need direction in this regard, please, feel free to let me know.
Maybe today you are struggling with something. Maybe you may have found yourself not as close to The Lord as you thought. We would like to help you in this through prayer and guidance. If you find yourself in need of prayer and/or encouragement, please, feel free to call or text +1 (505) 600-1027 or email cross66info@gmail.com
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Any scripture referenced here is taken from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted
