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POINTING FINGERS I never cease to be amazed at some people's
knowledge of the Bible. It seems like some folks, no matter how ignorant they
are about God's Word, always know certain verses of Scripture--and often they
know these verses for all the wrong reasons. They know, for example, that the
Bible teaches that "God is love" (1 Jn. 4:8), but usually because they
want to "love" someone in an immoral way (like a live-in girlfriend,
or a gay or lesbian "lover"). They also know about the verse that
teaches: "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," but again, it's
usually for selfish reasons--they want to take revenge (with God's approval) on
someone who's mistreated them. And of course the one Bible verse that
everyone knows is: "Judge not that you be not judged" (Matt. 7:1).
Worldly folks want to quote this verse every time you try to point out some
error in their lives that needs correcting. Now, I have to admit that after all these
years of preaching, I'm no longer surprised or even disappointed when a worldly
person tries to throw this text up at me as I try to help him see the error of
his way. But I do get disturbed when my own brothers or sisters in Christ try to
use this text to get me "off their case" for the same reason. Jesus does
warn us about judging others (Matt. 7:1); but if you read further in this
context, you will see that Jesus more specifically is condemning one who is
hypercritical and hypocritical in his faultfinding (7:2-5). When we go looking
for a "speck" (or minor fault) in a brother's "eye" (life),
we are being hypercriticaland that's wrong. And worse: when we do this while
having a "log" (or major fault) in our own eyethat's hypocritical. And
this is the kind of judging that Jesus so strongly condemns. But that's not what we have here when people
with real faults throw up the "judge not that you be not judged"
verse. In such cases, we usually have one with a "speck" lovingly
trying to help one with a real "log," and the one with the
"log" starts yelling, "foul." The fact is that all of us have at least some
"specks" (or faults) in our lives. If we look at anyone long and hard
enough, we will find "specks" or faultsno matter how genuinely good
the person might be. But the fact that we can point back at someone who is
confronting us about our sin and say, "Hey, but you're guilty of
this"--even if it is a greater sin than the one he is pointing to in our
life and even if he is being hypercritical and hypocritical--that does not make our sin any less wrong or any less
offensive or any less in need of repentance! When we point a finger back and use his
"speck" or even his "hypocrisy" as an excuse for our sin, we
prove that we are carnal, and (to borrow Peter's words) we are "in the gall
of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity" (cf. Ac. 8:23). If we really
were spiritually minded and truly concerned about pleasing the Lord, we would
appreciate his efforts to help us improve. So, if some brother approaches us in an effort
to correct some failing in our life, we need to be careful about pointing our
finger back at him! His having a "speck" or even a "log"
doesn't take away the fact that we still may be at fault. And if that's true,
then we need to correct it--no matter how many sins may be in his life. |