“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.” Matthew 7:1-5
In this blog post, I’m going to talk about the parable of the Speck and the Log. This parable was told by Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, and I’m going to explain when He did, Why He did, and the deeper meaning behind this parable.
This parable is about judging. This can be a very hot topic, considering the culture we live in. Many people say, “Don’t judge others for what they believe in or do.” They think they can pull out this parable, and find something to criticize you about if you criticize someone else. This parable can also be taken out of context often. We are told by God to criticize and morally critic our fellow Christians, but there’s a difference between criticizing and judging. Let’s look at the meaning of Judging: to express a bad opinion of someone’s behavior, often because you think you are better than them; to form, give, or have as an opinion, or to decide about something or someone, especially after thinking carefully. Let’s look at the definition of Criticizing: to consider the merits and demerits of and judge accordingly, to find fault with: point out the faults of. Do you see how similar the definitions are? You can tell why people often use the word ‘judging’ out of context often. We think that judging and criticizing a fellow Christian is the same thing when really they are two separate things. Judging is forming an opinion and passing a sentence, or blame, onto a fellow person. Criticizing is when you actually go to that person, speak with them, and you evaluate that person, assessing their merits and faults. Do you see the difference now? We are called to critic and help our fellow Christians, and we help them sometimes by actually criticizing them, gently, but bring up different things in their life which need to be fixed, but with respect. We are told to do this, to help other Christians not stumble, and to show them what they are missing, and what they are doing, that they might not notice.
So now we know why we shouldn’t judge, and how we can criticize, but not judge, what is the meaning behind this parable? Well, we know Jesus used parables to teach us to look closely at something. He wanted us to think hard, and listen hard to what he was saying. If we really wanted to know the true meaning or hidden meaning behind His parables, we would decipher them, and listen closely. These were people who actually wanted to know Jesus and understand His ways, not crowd followers who came because everyone else did. Jesus wanted us to look deeper into this.
What he meant by this was that we shouldn’t look at someone, a fellow believer, and accuse them of something minuscule, when we ourselves are doing an even larger sin, judging others. When we judge others, and accuse our fellow believers, but not help them, but just sentence them as a sinner, then we are sinning not only against them but against God. We as believers, if we do see something happening in someone else’s life, that is a sin, we need to first look at ourselves. Is this a righteous conviction that we go speak to them about this, or are we just bringing them down to make us look more righteous? Sometimes we point out mistakes others are doing, or give others advice or instruction, to elevate ourselves, and make ourselves look more righteous in other people’s eyes. This is wrong, and it is arrogant, rude, and prideful of us to do so to a fellow Christian.
When we are drawn to judge someone, we need to recognize what our motives are, and if they are righteous, then we should check ourselves, then go and confront our fellow believer. We need to let them know what they are doing and give them advice, but with a humble and meek heart, telling them that we are not trying to judge, but just to point out the obvious, and help before it gets worse. If you are the one being criticized, you may automatically become defensive, but once you step back and see what they are pointing out, you should take their advice, and see if it aligns with scripture. Pray about your sin, and have that person pray with you and help you along because bearing something alone is hard, but when you have someone else, it is easier.
This has been my blog post explaining the parable of the speck, and the log. I hope you all enjoyed reading, and I hope that this helped explain the parable more in depth, and helped to bring this parable into simpler terms. Thanks you guys for reading!
