Conforming (phase 2), Jesus Teaches the Way - Arriving to a Decision (cont.)(step17), session 6

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" - Mt 7: 1-3

I think these verses are usually either ignored or misapplied.

They are ignored by those of us who insist on applying a standard to others to which we ourselves refuse to - are are unable to - comply. So many Christians are appalled by the way that non-Christians live, while ourselves continuing to ignore Jesus' teaching in some area of our lives. We think that our perceived righteousness is the result of our own virtue, rather than recognizing that any holiness in which we walk has been given us by God and is a matter of his goodness rather than our own. Perhaps we often do this as we remain stuck in (Fr. Spitzer's) comparative identity mode, and need the confirmation that we are better than others in order to feel good about ourselves. Regardless of why, we often ignore Jesus' instruction not to judge, and it takes a great effort to overcome the inertia of looking through the lens of comparativism.  Fortunately, Jesus has completed that effort, and when we meet him in the honest recognition of our own sinfulness and our utter dependence on him, we become equipped to stop judging others and begin loving them more as he does.

But the misapplication of this verse is that we often conclude that we should not ever bother ourselves with the speck in our brother's eye.

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. - Mt 7: 5

So there are two aspects of this: we must first understand that the speck in our brother's eye is a speck, and not try to make it into a log. But we should also remember this: a speck in the eye is troublesome, and ought not to be ignored. It can only be addressed in context, though. I can't lecture my brother about his speck while ignoring my own log, as if clearing my brother's eye were my job because of my lofty standing over him. I can't be superior to my brother; I can only hope to walk alongside him.

Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you . . . . If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! - Mt 7: 7.11

This relates back to recent thoughts about trusting in God to provide for our every need, even those for which we struggle to see his providence before it comes to fruition. But it also serves as a nice reminder against those who suggest that "hey, we're all basically good!" No, we're all basically not; we all need a savior, and this is the one need for which God has already provided for all of us. Our eternal needs are always the context in which God provides for our temporal needs.