​Keep Your Windows Clean

​Keep Your Windows Clean (Mattthew 7:1-5)
 
Matthew 7:1-5, Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
 
There was an older couple who watched their neighbor every morning through their window. As the younger neighbor hung her clothes out to dry on the line the elderly woman noticed how dirty the clothes looked and commented to her husband about the filthy garments. The next morning the same thing happened. As they sat at their kitchen table, they ate breakfast and talked negatively about the dirty clothes of the neighbor. This went on for several weeks.
 
One morning however, they woke up and looked out the window; much to the elderly woman’s surprise she said, “Honey, look there! Her laundry looks so much better. Someone must have taught that poor lady how to clean those clothes properly.” Her husband replied, “No Dear, I just got up earlier today and washed our windows!”
 
It is much easier to see the dirty laundry of other people when we fail to notice the dirty windows of our own lives. It is a very dangerous thing to be judgmental. Jesus said in Matthew 7:3, And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?. I have learned in my own life – when I spend more time trying to fix myself, I spend less time trying to fix others. Keep the windows clean, and you’ll not see the dirty laundry!
 
Yet every day we are judged and we judge others. Everything from hairstyles to child rearing to financial decisions can cause raised eyebrows and cynical glances. People are by nature judgmental, but does that make it okay? Do we need to communicate every assessment that pops into our heads? 
 
But while it is easy for us to focus more on others' shortcomings than our own, it's not helpful. Looking at our own faults and failures requires a great deal of humility and honesty. But only when we do that first can we possibly be a position to help someone else. One of the most prominent characteristics of this critical, fault-finding, judgmental person is that he predictably focuses on things that are of little importance and treats them as matters of vital importance. When our own sin is forgiven, cleansed, and repented of, and when the log is taken out of our own eye, then we will see our brother’s sin clearly and be able to help him get victory in his own life. We will then see everything clearly.
 
In growing our relationships with fellow believers, we are called to encourage, counsel, and exhort them toward godliness, which seems to include the need to judge their behavior. Fortunately, we can count on Jesus to clearly outline how to judge in the right way.
 
Before we judge someone else we must first examine our own life first. The criticizer fails to examine himself. He is inconsistent in his judgment. The word "beholdest" has the idea of continuing to look. Too often we continue to look at the failures of others: we continue to gossip, criticize, and revel forever in the bad news. When we judge and criticize, we reveal a very serious problem: we have a beam in our eye. We are blind to the truth of our own nature. We too fail, and we fail often. Therefore, we must do away with our own critical spirit. An old poem puts it this way: There is so much good in the worst of us. And so much bad in the best of us; That it hardly behooves any of us. To talk about the rest of us.
 
Although the criticizer feels he is just to just, the criticizer is not fit to judge. He is as sinful as the next person, yet he is not considering his own sin. He feels free to be critical of those who come short and fail, yet he does not look at himself. He condemns others, yet he justifies himself. Notice: God justifies neither the criticizer not the sinner. The criticizer is the weaker of the two. It is the weak who judge and criticize the most. They have a great need to boost self over others in order to feel good about themselves. The criticizer does not examine himself. Self-examination hurts, so few of us do it. Yet God says in I Corinthians 11:31, For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
 
We are not ready to judge until we have carefully examined our own lives. It is not possible to be perfectly blameless, but when we do sin we must confront it, deal with it, and not repeat it. Confess and clean your slate. It is in that type of blamelessness that we are able to rightly judge one another. Blaming others or focusing on their faults keeps us from dealing with the things in our life that we can and should fix.
 
Questions to Consider:
So the next time you feel the urge to judge someone, be sure to check your motives.
Have you dealt with your critical spirit?
What about your own shortcomings?
 
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, You are so good to have such patience with me, a sinner who needs You desperately. my pride seems to lurk around every corner! Forgive me for my critical attitude. Forgive me when I tear down others rather than look in the mirror and correct my own issues. Help me to always know deep in my soul that I am no different with regard to sin than any other human on this planet; in need of forgiveness. Let me always see the sin in myself first, and with your eyes only, see the sin in others after. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
 
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