18 Jan Humbled by the Spirit

I was late out of the house for a breakfast meeting this week. It was just a few minutes, no big deal. Then it happened. I’m at a four-way stop. A young lady to my left goes straight. I made a left behind her and suddenly realized she was stopped right in front of me, just beyond the intersection. There were four or five cars ahead of her. What was going on?

A school bus heading toward us stopped to pick up a child, who had yet to appear from her house. The driver had been waiting long enough that traffic was stacked in both directions. I’m guessing I waited three to five minutes before dad and child (slowly) made their way to the bus. Then came the thoughts.

“How inconsiderate of that parent! They inconvenienced so many people!” “Why did the driver wait so long? Be ready for the bus (flashback from my childhood)! And then came the ping of the Spirit.

“Do you know the needs of the child?” “Do you know the challenges of the parent?” “Why are you in such a hurry?  There’s nothing urgent at church right now.” Boy, did that leave a mark! I had a ton of judgmental thoughts racing through my head. And then the Spirit plopped this in there:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “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? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)

The passage above may be the most misunderstood in the entire New Testament. Jesus isn’t saying that it’s never appropriate to address behavioral issues with others. We can speak truth in love when a fellow believer strays from the Word. As other commentators have pointed out, Jesus is saying don’t criticize.

This passage is included in The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is talking directly to the Pharisees, a sect of Jewish rulers. They considered themselves the most righteous people and looked harshly on pretty much everyone else. They criticized Jesus for hanging with the people they criticized and deemed unworthy. Jesus was telling them that they were hypocrites and didn’t see their own sin. I thought about that as I continued my drive to church

How often have I inconvenienced someone without knowing it? How often did I do it when I knew I was inconveniencing someone? I judged someone’s entire story based on the chapter I walked in on.

I finished my drive to work, humbled and thankful that God taught this pastor a lesson before he even made it to the office that morning. I pray this experience blesses you!

Pastor Jerry Bader