I’ve come to the conclusion that “Judge not lest ye be judged”, can only ever be applied to oneself, or as something to be taught generally. As soon as I decide that a particular individual needs to hear it, I’ve violated the meaning of it, and disqualified myself from communicating it. Likewise, if I accuse someone of needing to “Take the plank out of their own eye”, before I’ve dislodged whatever is in my own, I’m in worse shape than they are.

At the same time, Jesus never said “Correct not lest Ye be corrected”, for God assumes a desire on the part of His people to BE corrected. When I judge someone, my intention is to exclude them and “cut them off”, from righteousness; I’m stating not only that they’re wrong, but that they have moved beyond the pale of being right. In so doing I’m establishing a moral hierarchy, where I as the “judger” stand above the “judgee”. Correction, on the other hand recognizes the weakness of both parties, is undertaken out of compassion, and places both parties on equal ground before God. Galatians 6:1 says “If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” There is a tacit understanding then that 1. the person in sin should not remain in that state, 2. that God has called those who are intimate with Him to serve as agents of restoration, and 3. the one doing the restoring is not inherently superior, and must, in humility, recognize their own capacity to fall into sin as well.

I know in this day and age it is commonplace for people outside of grace (and sadly even in the church) to attempt to use scripture verses to shield them from the need to change and grow, but our avoiding correction was never Jesus’ intent. The Bible says in 1John 3:8 that “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the work of the devil”. As hard as it might be to admit, each of us carries some of that work in us, and we must submit to God’s processes of growth, even when they destroy things that we’ve grown accustomed to their being in our lives. Christians should be those who model movement towards anything that helps us to conform to the image of Christ; not those who run away from it because it might sting to accept it.

Apply liberally to affected area…

Dave