DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SCRUB-BRUSH

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – Scrub-brush

"Judge not and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven…." (Like 6:37)

This is perhaps one of the most misused verses in the Bible. How often do we hear people say, "You have no right to judge me.  After all, doesn't the Bible say not to judge?"

So does this mean that we are not to judge anyone or anything? Of course not. We are called to discern false teachers. And we are to make distinctions between what is right and wrong, holy and unholy. We make judgments all the time and we can rightly judge and condemn what is ungodly.

So what does it mean? It means censorious judging, critically picking at another person's faults while ignoring our own. That's why Jesus said to remove the log in our own eye before we try to remove the speck in another person (see verses 41-42).

If there is any judging that needs to take place, it should be of myself. We are admonished: "If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged" (I Corinthians 11:31).

Self-judging is not human nature. We love to pinpoint other peoples' failures while glossing over our own. It is the pride in myself that overlooks my own shortcomings and concentrates on someone else's. It takes a spirit-filled mind to forgive another person's faults without condemnation.

To tell the truth, I have plenty of judging of myself to keep me busy, instead of trying to correct everyone else. I don't just have a log in my eye. I have forest. If you drive through the mountains of Oregon, you will see places where the hills are completely bare of trees. In areas where lumber is harvested, lumbermen often cut down everything, leaving the mountainside stark naked. It is called "clear-cutting." I need to clear my own forest first before trying to remove a scrub-brush from someone else.

I don't like to be judged, so I shouldn't judge others. May God help me to not have a critical spirit, and leave the judging to Him.

Love, Dad