In the Matthew 7 passage that I remember, it says "Judge not that ye be not judged".
In reading it this morning in The Message it is "slightly" different.
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."
When I read it over again a few times, I see an admonition not to try to make everyone else like me. I cannot know their circumstances. I don't know how their day has gone, or what things lurk under the surface of what I see. I only see the outward face that they present to the world around them.
And why do I even notice and care about those "others" in my world?
Do I think that I am so "right" that they ought to move that way also?
Or do I bad mouth them and what they do, so that I might look good (or better) in comparison?
My reason for helping is flawed if I do this, and my attitude toward my own "rightness" needs a major adjustment.
The standard for righteousness is definitely not me. It is Jesus.
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