FEBRUARY 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#04 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

FEBRUARY 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#04  “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

[POSTED BY LANNY LEWIS]

JESUS, I pray today that Your Spirit will move among all the families that all hurt and separations will be dissolved so that a Great Healing will begin in each and every family. Lord, there is no hope for mankind if mankind remains removed from the family unit established by God and those institutions set up for the good of the family by the Creator God and Everlasting Father. Jesus, You said that You and the Father are One and You prayed that we could be One with You and the Father, so Lord that is my prayer today, that Your Spirit will unite all families that we can be One with You, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit of God!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS is the Great Physician and the only One qualified to do “I Surgery” (see February 14) and successfully remove the “speck” in our brother’s eye and the “plank” from our own! We examined ourselves on the aspect of “judging” as we began looking at JQ#04, Jesus points out to us that we are in danger of becoming worse off ourselves than the one we have tried to “judge” when He asks JQ#04 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3) Jesus immediately followed that Question with an identical Question just in case we didn’t get it the first time: “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:4)  Two Questions back to back (JQ#4a & JQ#4b) from Jesus and both demand we stop and consider what is happening in our life BEFORE we stop and try to “judge” what is going on in someone else’s life! The language Jesus uses always makes it clear what His meaning is and in this case Jesus immediately asks the Questions and then before waiting for an answer He uses the word “Hypocrite!” He makes it clear that He is calling the one that “judges others” without first looking at himself IS the “Hypocrite!” Jesus makes this evident when He states: “Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye…” (Matthew 7:5a) leaving no doubt that the “Hypocrite!” is the one that fails to see that we should seek to be righteous before God before we try to judge the righteousness of others. Jesus gives us a reward for doing things as He commands for He states that if we will first examine ourselves and resolve our own issues “…then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5b) Jesus is saying if we do not judge others then He will give us discernment to actually help others instead of judging them! Doing things from the Jesus Perspective keeps our attention on Proper Priorities and it is only Proper Perspective when we keep a right-relationship with God as the first order of business! We are to continually examine ourselves and our motives and when we are sure that we have taken care of spiritual business in the order and manner which God commands, then and only then can we be useful in doing God’s work and help others instead of judging others. God always holds those that want to serve Him to a higher standard so we must be aware of the responsibility of being called Christians!  Each JESUS Question points to a Spiritual Standard: JQ#01 - “…glorify your Father in Heaven…” JQ#02 - “…therefore you shall be perfect…” JQ#03 - “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” and now in JQ#04 - “do not judge…” but [remove our own unrighteous] “plank” from our lives before we try to [remove the unrighteous] “speck” from theirs.” The next verse I still struggle with and I pray for God to direct my heart on Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs…” ——— surely it somehow ties in with Matthew 7:1-5!!!