Are We Qualified to Judge Another?

"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?" Matthew 7:3

Do you know why some of the words in the Bible are red? I didn't, so don't be embarrassed if you don't. They are the words that Jesus spoke. When I first read this verse; I really didn't understand it then, but I do more today. He was talking about pointing out others sins, but not looking at our own. We are all sinners. If we have ever had an angry thought towards someone; you have committed murder according to sin. Every lusted after someone who's married; you've committed adultery. Our thoughts can be sin. Recently, a friend was physically assaulted in her own home by two men. This woman has made bad choices in life, but in no way deserved what happened to her. There is never a good enough reason for two men to go uninvited into a woman's home and do what was done to her. There are people saying that "she should have known" or " deserved what she got because of the way she lives." 

Who are we to judge anyone else? By what standards can we measure what another deserves; our own? I am as guilty as whoever is reading this too. I have judged others so many times. I have gotten good at doing this over the years, because if everyone is looking at what they are doing wrong, nobody is looking at me. I was pointing out others sin; while living in it myself. This woman that some say "deserved it" is the one that would get my laundry out of the dryer so I could go to bed sick, dig through her house at 11pm to help find a band-aid for one of my kids, lend me her blu-ray player when she barely knew me, and gave me food when one month my family almost went without. 

God sees our hearts, and I have to ask myself, "how do I love others the way He loves me?" It's not always an easy thing to do, but I try to be as open about my past and who I was. I remember the whispers that would be said around town about me. I remember the blank smiles as people passed me on the streets. I remember the pain inside that I tried to smile and fake my way thorough. I also remember the people who were willing to get dirty, come into my messy life, and want to love me anyway. I don't want to be one of those people that whispers in the dark; I want to be one that lights up the dark. If we want to be able to love like Jesus does; we have to be willing to really look at the truth in the red words and ask ourselves, "What's in my own eye?" I pray that Jesus continues to speak truth to me and show me the areas where His strength can be demonstrated in my weakness. What would the world look like if we stopped judging and got dirty in someone's messy life by living them instead?

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" John 13:34