Title: Faith Seeing Me / Matthew 7:1-5
Said, "People in the world talk a lot about other people's faults, but they are good at hiding their faults like a magician hides beads, likes to swear at others, and opens their eyes to the wrong things in other people's words and actions, but in the meantime, he himself I don't know that I'm becoming a bad person because I don't develop, I can't get along with other people, and I only get greedy." That's right. Criticism is a weapon of instinctive self-defense hidden within human beings.
Another characteristic of criticism is the fact that the content is largely the flaw of the critic himself. Psychologists call this. Criticizing others from your point of view. For example, dishonest people dishonor even the honest conduct of others. Liars never try to believe what others say. Compensating for inferiority in this way, his resulting life is A person's intention to elevate his or her dignity by downgrading the character of others will never succeed. Because such a person is not capable of building his own world. All he wants is to bring the other down to his level. How bad is the review?
Another way to compensate for one's inferiority complex is to divert attention by criticizing others. By strongly highlighting the shortcomings or shortcomings of others, I try to induce a relatively weak perspective on my faults. Regarding this attitude, Jesus said: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not understand the log that is in your own eye? Take the log out of it, and then you will see clearly and remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:3-5) This is Jesus' satirical teaching. Imagine a blind man with a beam in his eye rubbing his eye to get the tiny speck out of someone else's eye. To make a further leap, do you know where other people's eyes are? What could be more hilarious than this? But despite this, many people are still directing these scenes.
Criticism is a word that conveys a very negative connotation. But in fact, if you are good at criticizing and receiving it well, it becomes medicine. Criticism can also be sound critique. Even in the Bible, such sound criticism is found. This is the criticism of the prophets.
The first is the criticism of the prophet Nathan. When David sinned against Uriah's wife Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah, Nathan, a man of God, boldly risked his life and criticized David's sin. That's a healthy criticism.
Another criticism of John the Baptist is that. When Herod Antipas took Herodias, his brother's wife, and made her queen, many people without courage were speechless. But John the Baptist, who had a sharp critical spirit, boldly pointed out the king's fault. Herod imprisoned John the Baptist and eventually took his life.
We can learn a lesson from these two cases. It is the fact that we should be wary of unilateral criticism. What we value and train more importantly is training to accept criticism. This is the position where I can see the beams in my eyes. There is a clear difference between David and Herod. Where is David's greatness? It was the ability to accept criticism. So repent and repent, and receive God's mercy. But where are Herod's shortcomings? He's in his inability to accept criticism. So, in the end, he becomes an evil person who enjoys the sin of biting his tail. God had no mercy on him.
When Jesus said “don’t criticize” in today’s text, he doesn’t mean to throw away a conscience that can’t even do sound criticism. It does not mean that we should not distinguish between truth and lies, good and evil. I mean, don't like or like to criticize. It is said that most people have a psychology that prefers to be insulted rather than praised. That is why more people listen to the words that insult others rather than the stories of praising others, and more people are expected to gather to hate others.
It is often said that people who play hunsu (訓手) from the side are more likely to see numbers than people who play Go or chess. Similarly, different people say that it is easy to see the faults of others, but it is difficult to see their own faults. I don't think this is another flaw that humans have.
There is a saying in the Greek folklore that "everyone carries two sacks". One is carried in the front and the other in the back. But the strange thing is that no matter how much you put other people's faults in the front pocket, it doesn't lean forward. Why? The reason is that, just as I put other people's faults in the front pocket, my faults go into the back as well. These are the words of Jesus today. That's verse 2. “It will be measured to you with the measure that you measure.”
In order not to criticize others, we must first have an understanding heart. Understanding others also means changing your perspective. Isn't the English word for "understanding" interesting? This word is a compound word of "under" and "stand", which means standing in the other person's position, looking at him and looking at me. In this way, it is not easy to criticize others.
What did the apostle Paul say in Philippians 2:3-4? “Only when each of us considers others better than ourselves with humility, looking after ourselves first, and then looking after others, we are filled with joy.”
Dear saints!
It is easy to demolish a house, but not so easy to build a new one. It's easy to criticize, but hard to build. It is easy to criticize other people's work, but when you stand in your position and do the work, you discover that you can't criticize so carelessly. That's why there is a saying "Before you criticize someone, put them on and walk for a while" That's true wisdom.
Above all, it is a time when we desperately need the wisdom of faith to see ourselves. Remember the words of Jesus, “Remove the log from your own eye, and then you will see clearly and remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (7:5). The beam in my own eye comes first, not the spec in someone else's eye. I hope you will become believers who see me first.