«　WEEK 4　DAY 1　»

　　Matt. 7:1-2 Do not judge, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.

　　The Lord's intention in Matthew 7:1-12...is to encourage us to forget ourselves and to take care of others. In the two previous chapters, the Lord has dug out our temper, our lusts, our inner being, the self, the flesh, and our anxiety. Now He brings us to the point where we must learn to take care of others. When you judge others, you must judge them according to how you want them to judge you. To consider the matter in this way is to take care of others. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 283)

　　In Matthew 7:1 the Lord said, “Do not judge, that you be not judged.” The kingdom people, living in a humble spirit under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom, always judge themselves, not others. The Lord's word about not judging lest we be judged does not seem to be a word about taking care of others. However, when we probe into this word, we see that it actually means to take care of others.

　　Verse 2 says, “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.” Under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom, the kingdom people will be judged with what they judge. If they judge others with righteousness, they will be judged by the Lord with righteousness. If they judge others with mercy, they will be judged by the Lord with mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). Do not judge others so much, for you will be judged in the same degree that you judge others. If you take care of others, you will not be judged by them.

　　For us to deal with others, we must consider them, sympathize with them, and be merciful toward them. The kingdom people must take care of others in their dealings with them.

　　The basic principle hidden [in Matthew 7:1-12] is that we must forget ourselves and take care of others. Do you know why you criticize others and judge them? It is because you think of yourself too much. You neglect the feelings of others and do not care for them. You care only for your feeling. Hence, you judge and criticize others. Therefore, if we would be kept from judging others, we must take care of them. This requires that we forget ourselves and consider others. If we center around ourselves and ignore the feelings of others, we shall criticize them. But if we take care of others, we shall not judge them.

　　In verse 3 the Lord says, “And why do you look at the splinter which is in your brother's eye, but the beam in your eye you do not consider?” As the kingdom people, living in a humble spirit under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom, we must consider the log, the beam, in our own eye whenever we look at the splinter in our brother's eye. The splinter in our brother's eye must remind us that we have a beam in our own eye.

　　Verse 4 continues, “Or how can you say to your brother, Let me remove the splinter from your eye, and behold, the beam is in your eye?” The Lord's word in verses 3 and 4 is very deep. His intention here is not to charge us to take care of ourselves; it is to charge us to take care of others.

　　Verse 5 says, “Hypocrite, first remove the beam from your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.” As long as the beam remains in our eye, our sight is blurred, and we cannot see clearly. In pointing out a brother's fault, we must realize that we have a greater fault. Our brother's fault is likened to a splinter, and ours is likened to a beam....The Lord's intention is that we take care of others. Whenever you try to point out someone else's fault, you may care for the fault, but not for the person....If you care for the brother, you will not care only for his fault. Rather, you would say, “His fault is merely a splinter when compared to mine, which is a huge beam. Therefore, I am happy to overlook his fault.” (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 284, 286-287)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 23