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MYSELF, I AIN’T NEVER BIN GUILTY OF CRITICIZIN’ OR MAKIN’ SNAP JUDGMENTS ‘BOUT OTHER PEOPLE
A man is worried that his wife is losing her hearing, so he consults a doctor. The doctor suggests that he try a simple at-home test on her: “Stand behind her and ask her a question, first from twenty feet away, next from ten feet, and finally right behind her.”
So the man goes home and sees his wife in the kitchen facing the stove. He says from the door, “What’s for dinner tonight?”
No answer.
Ten feet behind her, he repeats, “What’s for dinner tonight?”
Still no answer.
Finally, right behind her, he repeats, “What’s for dinner tonight?”
And his wife turns around and says, “For the third time ---- chicken!”
When I first read that story, my mind immediately went back to an occasion when Jesus told a rather humorous illustration about human nature, and then followed it with an astute piece of advice. He said, “You can see the speck in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the log in your own eye. How can you say, ‘My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye’ when you don’t see the log in your own eye? You’re nothing but show offs! First take the log out of your own eye. Then you can see to take the speck out of your friend’s eye.” (Mt. 7:3-4 cev)
Why is it so easy for us to see the personal failings, personal quirks, dumb things, bad habits (ad infinitum) in other people, yet overlook our own flaws which are often far more obvious and serious than theirs?
Now, I don’t know about you, but as for myself, I can only plead “Guilty.”
But there is one more thing that Jesus said on that particular occasion, and it does tend to dampen any “thinking person’s” inclination to be critical of others. In fact, if we truly consider what he said, it will certainly make us think twice before being quick to judge other people. His simple but poignant words of warning were, “Don’t condemn others, and God won’t condemn you. God will be as hard on you as you are on others. He will treat you exactly as you treat them.” (vs. 1-2 cev)
As one old preacher once said, “Thet kind of preachin’ tends to fetch a sudden coldness over the congregation.”
Posted by cdrnorth at October 4, 2007 9:26 AM