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 own “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.
