Judge Not: Moving From Condemnation to MercySample

Day 1 – Check the Mirror

Scripture: Matthew 7:1-5
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your eye?" (v. 3)

If you've ever been to a funhouse and looked in their misshapen mirrors, you've seen how distorted they can make you look. Some make you look taller, while others shrink you down. Others stretch out your face while another makes you wide (which we try to avoid). Judgment works much like that; it distorts our view of ourselves and others.

In Matthew 7, Jesus delivers one of the Bible's most quoted and misunderstood phrases: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." Many believe we should never call out sin or make any moral evaluation. But that's not what Jesus is saying.

Jesus is confronting the hypocritical spirit of judgment that ignores our sin while zooming in on someone else's. It's the tendency to play the role of moral referee in someone else's life while refusing to admit that you're in foul trouble yourself. His example is almost comical; you're walking around with a plank in your eye, trying to perform surgery on someone else's speck. It's not just foolish; it's dangerous.

If we're honest, most of us do this far more often than we'd like to admit. We have this incredible ability to magnify someone else's faults while minimizing our own. We get annoyed at the person who gossips while conveniently forgetting the "prayer request" we shared that was just thinly veiled gossip. We're disgusted by someone's anger while excusing our short temper because we had a hard day. In our minds, our behavior is justified, while theirs is evil.

The problem isn't just that we're judging; our judgment lacks self-awareness. We're looking in a distorted mirror that makes us look good, and everyone else looks worse. And if we stay in that funhouse too long, it changes how we see the world. It turns people into problems and sinners into enemies rather than fellow humans who need the same grace we desperately cling to.

Jesus isn't calling us to abandon discernment. He's calling us to start with humility. Check the mirror. Before you critique someone else, examine your own heart. What's going on in you? Is your frustration with someone else's sin rooted in your pride, insecurity, or unresolved issues?

Paul echoes this idea in Romans 2:1, "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself because you who pass judgment do the same things." Ouch. The truth is the sins we notice most loudly in others often live quietly in us.

So, what does it look like to check the mirror? It's not a five-second glance; it’s a study that only comes from sitting in God's presence and asking Him to reveal what's in your heart. It's praying as David did in Psalm 139: "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

It means being more concerned about our growth than proving someone else wrong. It means letting the Holy Spirit convict us before we share something that may convict someone. When we do that, recognizing the plank in our eyes doesn't make us harsher; it makes us more gentle. We realize God's patience with us, acknowledging we are not better, just forgiven.

Here's the wild part: when you start humbly, you become more helpful to the people around you. Jesus doesn't say, "Ignore the speck in your brother's eye." He says, "First take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." In other words, self-examination isn't the end; it's the beginning of genuinely loving correction. Once you deal with your stuff, you can help others, not as a judge, but as a fellow traveler, pointing them toward the same grace you've received.

Today, as you think about someone you've been judging, stop and check the mirror. What's going on in your heart? What "planks" have you been ignoring? Instead of rushing to fix someone else, ask God to do a work in you first. Humility is the foundation for mercy.

Prayer Focus:

Lord, help me to see myself today. Show me the places where I've been quick to judge and slow to examine my own heart. Teach me to start with humility. Thank You for being patient with me. Help me extend that same patience to others. It is in the name of Jesus we pray, amen.