FEBRUARY 14 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 14  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    

JESUS, Praise Your Holy Name for You Lord have given up more than

 anyone will ever give up and You did it out of Pure Obedience to 

the Father’s Will and Master Plan of Salvation for all mankind.

 Praise be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the Plan of Salvation.

Let us not question why God chose Jesus as the Only Way to enter 

into Holy Fellowship with the Father,

 but let us instead be joyful and rejoice that God has prepared The Way

 for  sinners to be saved! 

Jesus is the Name and the Way to Eternal Life with the Father

 and the Way to live more abundantly on this earth. Lord, I choose to live

 with You in heaven and pray to be always focused on the Way to get there.     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has so far asked us with His first three Questions: (JQ#01) to consider 

that we have been made in the image of God and therefore in God’s Plan

 for mankind He has decided that we, through our daily lives are to 

represent Him as the “salt” and the “light” of the earth and (JQ#02) our

 attention is directed towards separating ourselves from the world,

 not to isolate ourselves but to let our “light” shine through the darkness

 in the world — our “light” is to be Powered by God’s Greatest Gift to

 mankind, His “Love” which He desires to bestow on the world. 

In order to make our “light” shine brightly we have to

 “Love others” like God “Loves” us. 

Then (JQ#03) Jesus asked us to look around at how God has taken care

 of His world and has provided so abundantly for His Creation and answer honestly,

 “Is not life more than bread, and the body more than clothing?” 

which if we do answer honestly we will see that the world is “physical” and 

in a “fallen” state but through God we can see the “Spiritual” world and 

the possibilities of “Hope” that exist through following 

God’s Plan for the “Spiritual” life which He offers freely to all 

that will “believe” and have “Faith in God and His Plan for Mankind”. 

That brings us to the next Question (JQ#04) Jesus places before us, 

and Jesus with JQ#04 does in the same manner with this 4th Question

 what He did in Teaching us about “Worry” in JQ#03 by starting out with

 an imperative statement of the 

Truth of God: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” 

(Matthew 7:1) 

Jesus is very clear on how He feels about us judging others, and it only

 takes 2 well placed words for Jesus to say all that needs to be said about

 “Judging” in this verse as He states “Judge not…” and then He uses

 5 more words — “…that you be not judged…” for a total of just 7 words

 to Teach us all we need to know to pass a spiritual test on 

“Should we as Christians judge others?” 

If we stop and listen to what Jesus is Teaching on “judging” then we

 can also confidently answer “Why” we should 

refrain from “judging others”. 

Jesus continues this important section on “judging others” which boils

 down to adjusting our attitudes spiritually to promote a positive attitude

 from others in the next verse:

 “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; 

and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

 (Matthew 7:2) 

What may seem obvious on the “physical” surface to our worldly eyes 

may need to have the surface scratched “Spiritually” a little for that 

“digging deeper study” on “judging others” by our worldly viewpoint.

  Jesus does make it clear what our initial action should be

 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) 

Every time I read this section I get the impression that the Holy Spirit is 

telling me that if I observe something in someone else that makes me

 want to “judge them” then I should immediately run to a mirror and look to

 see what I am doing in my own life that generated that erroneous feeling?

 I always call this section “I” surgery because it is my personal belief 

that Jesus is telling us that 

we should operate on ourself 

to correct our “Spiritual Blindness” 

and to be acceptable in God’s eyes 

before we should operate on someone else 

so they are acceptable to us. 

Jesus is telling us that there may indeed be a “speck” in my brother’s eye

 but if I try to take God’s place and pass “judgment on” the “speck” in my

 brother’s eye that in “Reality” from God’s perspective I have effectively 

blinded myself by inserting a “plank” in my own “I” and just as we 

cannot save someone else from their sins

 (because only Jesus has that Power to Save) 

it is our responsibility to share the Gospel of Jesus with them — 

apply the principal of letting the “I” Surgeon do “I” Surgery” in this

 “speck removal operation” — we are not to perform the “I” Surgery operation

 on our brother, but we should refer them to Jesus 

and let the Great Physician do what only He can. 

This is a difficult Question/Lesson so we should look closely at what Lesson

 the Master Surgeon has to Teach us in this section on the subject of

 “I” surgery.