Matthew 7

Many people, Christians, and especially unbelievers, use Matthew 7 to tell people not to judge them for their sin. But they take it out of context. They think that it means we should not identify sins or sinful lifestyles in the lives of others, but that is not true. And today, we are going to talk about why that is not so.

Matthew 7:1-5 says,

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. ² For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. ³ Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? ⁵ 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."

Jesus is saying that we should not judge someone for doing something if we are doing the same thing. For example, if I had a friend that was cussing all the time, and I was cussing too, that would make me a hypocrite, just as Jesus is saying here. I would need to examine my own heart, and repent of my own sin and turn away from it before I would judge my friend's sin. We are to judge with righteous judgement. The Bible does not say to not judge at all.

But if we see a family member or a friend, and we witness sin in their lives, and we have examined ourselves to see if we are guilty of doing the same sin they are committing, then we can righteously judge them by identifying the sin and sharing the truth with them with kindness and grace. The ultimate goal here is to bring them closer to Christ through seeing the truth and coming to repentance!

To close this devotional, how are we reading this verse? How can we apply it to our lives right now? Let us all remember to judge righteously, and that if a friend judges us for a sin we are committing in our lives, we shall take it with peace and grace, instead of getting offended that someone is trying to help us stop the transgression that we are enacting.

Come get your faith in 5.

Side Note:

I wanted to let you know that I will be at a church summer camp this upcoming weekend! So unfortunately, there will be no devotional coming out next Sunday. I will post again the next week! But next weekend, if you don't have anything to study, I encourage you to read Psalm 46. And if you haven't read all of my devotionals, you can go back and read some of the older ones!

God bless you all.