Judging & Losing Perspective

Good Morning,

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matt. 7:1-3

The tendency to hold ourselves to a different standard than we do others is nothing new. Just look back to Genesis chapter 4 and read how Cain was angry because he thought his offering deserved the same favor as Abel’s. He tried to rationalize that his offering met God’s standard even though it did not. And we know what happened from there. 

When we apply a different standard to ourselves than we do to others it inhibits unity. If you are in business or even in ministry, you have no doubt seen this play out. Someone expects more of you than they would ever expect from themselves. It is kind of a pick and choose judging, the same kind of judging the verses above warn us against. Verses 1 and 2 are not dismissing proper discernment of truth, but rather instructing us not to have a judgmental spirit. It is very difficult to build a spirit of unity when a judgmental spirit is prevalent. It is something we need to check ourselves on.

A second thing that can damage unity in relationships is the loss of perspective (V3). Have you noticed that even if you need glasses to read, you don’t need them to see the faults in others? It seems our eyesight is never better than when viewing flaws in others and never worse than when we trying to see them in ourselves. Losing perspective can quickly disrupt unity. I distinctly remember when my wife and I were planning our wedding the biggest argument we had was over what it was going to say on the napkins at the reception. Something that trivial took on far more importance than it merited. 

If you want to promote unity at home, at work or at church then two things to guard against are inconsistent standards and a loss of perspective.  Not everything should rise to a level worth contention. In fact, there are very few things that should do so.  I keep coming back to the fantastic quote from pastor, author, and speaker John Maxwell: 

“You cannot overstate the unimportance of practically everything.”

Questions to Ponder this Week:

1)    Where are you tempted to apply a different standard to yourself than to others?

2)    Are there certain aspects of your life where losing perspective causes problems?

Live on purpose, Ron Klopfenstein, CPLC