“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:37 NKJ “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:41 & 42 NKJ
Years ago we were on a family camping trip celebrating my son’s birthday. I had bought glow in the dark light sticks for all the kids. As I opened one of the packages a piece of the light stick snapped off and hit me in the eye. At first my eye just felt a little irritated. But within a short time I was experiencing excruciating pain! Finally they decided to take me to the emergency room at a nearby hospital.
At the hospital they asked me to point to the area of the eye that hurt and I pointed to the lower part of my eye. When the doctor came in to examine me, he informed me that I had a laceration right above my cornea. This was shocking because that was not the part of the eye that hurt! Of course I had to tell him I thought he was wrong. He was humored by my assessment but then informed me I was mistaken.
He said the eye is a tricky part of the body because it mirrors pain. In other words: if you feel pain in the lower part of the eye, the damage is towards the top, and vice versa. Then he said, “For example if you get a dust particle in your eye and you think it is in under the bottom eyelid, it is actually under the top eyelid. That is why it takes a skilled physician to truly diagnose the problem when there is damage to the eye.” You’d think I would accept his expert opinion, but I didn’t. I left the hospital and went back to camp.
Upon returning to Portland I scheduled a follow up appointment with an eye surgeon. I told him what the doctor said and my dissatisfaction with his diagnosis. The surgeon chuckled as he told me the doctor was right and I was wrong. He gave me the same instructions for care and sent me on my way. I wasn’t pleased but I finally accepted that I was not a skilled physician and I was limited in my understanding about eye wounds. Eventually the eye did heal and I didn’t think much about it, until one day when I read this passage of Scripture.
Jesus gives the command, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Then Jesus tells quite a humorous parable about the eye to get his point across. “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?” “First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t say we are not to aid our brother in helping him to remove the speck in his eye. In fact he tells us we are. But first he tells us to remove the plank from our own eye. In other words, let him heal us from our wounds and then he can use us as an instrument of healing for others. This is the only way we can see our brother’s wounds clearly. People who do not heed Jesus’ words end up judging and condemning others and never get to the place of being able to help their brother remove the specks in their lives. They are proud and haughty in their opinion of themselves and their understanding, just like I was with the doctors. Unfortunately, limited understanding leads to misdiagnosis, and that leads to devastating results. Had I not humbled myself and listened to the skilled physicians I could have done permanent damage to my eye. People who do not listen to Jesus’ words, not only damage themselves, but they also damage the people in their lives, whom they are judging.
Jesus is the master physician who is the only one who can accurately diagnose the problem areas in our lives, and he is the only one who can heal us. And like I said earlier, if we humble ourselves and learn from him we will not only be healed, but we will then become an instrument of healing to be used in our brother’s lives. It is important to understand the difference between the doctors at the hospital and our role as Christian. While they could train and become skilled physicians, when we train to become Disciples of Christ, we do not become skilled physicians! We only become instruments of healing to be used by the skilled physician, Jesus Christ!
I want to encourage you to examine yourself and address the areas where you cast judgment or condemn. And then I want to encourage you to go to the physician, Jesus Christ, and ask him to diagnose your wounds. Allow him to heal you and then ask him to use you as an instrument of healing, not vice versa. If you will do these things Jesus will help you see clearly as you aide your brother in removing the specks in his life.
Prayer: I humbly come to you and acknowledge you as the skilled physician in my life. I bring my wounds to you and ask you to diagnose them and treat them. I believe by faith that as I do this, you will heal me. I also believe by faith that after I am healed you will use me as an instrument of healing for others. I praise you for being gentle with me during my times of learning how to be your disciple and I dedicate my life to learning from you. Amen
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