I am still processing the Sermon on the Mount. I have gone through the 25 posts and edited them for clarity and to revisit them for myself. Now I want to look at the applications I should be making for myself.
A man driving in heavy traffic gets pulled over for speeding. He says to the officer, "A lot of others were doing the same thing. Why am I the one who got pulled over?" The officer replies, "Have you ever been fishing?" To which the man nods his head yes, wondering where this is going. The officer then says, "Did you catch all the fish?"
Why do we think the guilt of others makes us less guilty? Because it doesn't. But it does at least somewhat explain why we are so quick to judge others, because it makes us look better. Sure, maybe I cuss, but at least I don't get drunk. Well, maybe I get drunk, but at least I don't do drugs. Sure, maybe I do drugs, but at least I don't beat my wife... I could go on, even to the point of circling back around to some of the same issues again, because the issues of others always seem to be worse that my own issues.
Take Away: If, as I have stated, the main idea of the Sermon on the Mount is to return us to having a relationship with God instead of trying to be obedient to a level of law, then this section fits in perfectly. It is not that there may be times that I have to make judgments about the behavior of others, it's that I can't use those instances as a justification for my own sins. That is why I first have to remove the log in my own eye. You know, that big, fat piece of wood that is hindering me from seeing what I really need to see. If I really want to help my brother with his issues, I first have to deal with my own. Yet it is not just relationship with my brother that is impacted by this frame of mind, it is also relationship with God. The deepest relationships are also the most honest ones. Lack of honesty leads to lack of trust. Lack of trust leads to a deterioration of relationship.
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