Thursday, December 22, 2011

a point with humor…

we are looking in the bible at why it is wrong to judge other people.  matthew writes that it’s wrong to judge when it blinds me to my own faults.

matthew 7:3-5 (niv), why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  how can you say to your brother, “let me take the speck out of your eye” when there is a plank in your own eye?  you hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye and then you can see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye.

JESUS is talking here in HIS famous sermon on the mount.

this is a good example of the fact that JESUS told jokes.  hebrew humor is humor by exaggeration.  HE said this in exaggeration and i’m sure the disciples got a big laugh.

imagine two guys: one guy has got some sawdust in his eye and the other has a telephone pole hanging out his eye.  JESUS is making a point here with humor.  HE is saying it is wrong to judge when it blinds me to my own faults.  if judging you causes me to not look at myself realistically, then it’s wrong.  we are great speck analyzers, nitpicking specks, when we have a logjam in our own eye.

so it is wrong when you practice the same sin.  it's wrong when it blinds you to your own fault.

just a thought from the front porch…

2 comments:

Daria Prendergast said...

These posts about judging are so appropriate at this time of the year when family is getting together. The drama going on at my house right now because my dad gets sick at this time of the year, he won't go to the doctor because he is stubborn and we have to wait on him and be sympathetic to a man who brought this on himself.There's judgments flying around about the care he is getting from step siblings, siblings who don't live close by or do live close by but don't come to visit regularly. The stress just piles up. I found myself raising my voice to my step sister because I got defensive and I had to calm down and ask myself "do I want this to escalate to family estrangement?" I want to judge her harshly for criticizing when she doesn't come by for weeks while I am stopping by everyday. I want to judge her for not giving sympathy to my mother who has her own problems. Here I am venting to you when I want to bite my sister's head off. Arrrgh!

Bill Williams said...

thanks so much, daria for your honesty. that is a great place to start. it is an area that we all have problems in and an area we need to be reminded about what God thinks about it. you will be in my prayers.