Vocation

1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “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?

4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

– Matthew 7:1-5

The words in these verses have been on my mind. We are taught by our parents from a young age not to judge others, but as we get older and form strong views and opinions about things, it becomes second nature to tell others what we think they should do and how to live their lives; when they decide to do what they think is best, we judge them for not taking our advice, not agreeing with us, or just for not thinking the same way we do.

Jesus tells us to look at our own sin before judging someone else, and the Bible tells us we are to confront others sin with truth and love in respect. It can be confusing to hear “judge not” while at the same time discern and judge what is truth. Life itself can be confusing, and when we tell someone what we think, a lot of the times, we mean well and have good intentions. However, just because we may not intend to judge someone we still did and we must own up to it as Christians and do what Jesus calls us to do; we must not judge others, and also discern and judge and search for the truth in everything.  That is what we must do as human beings; love all people regardless of whether their opinion differs from ours or whether it doesn’t.  We must love each other in the same way Jesus loves us.