“Do not judge or condemn others lest you be judged and condemned yourself. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye” (Matthew 7:1-5).

Now it is a very, very common practice, unfortunately, among Christians to judge people, to look down on them, and to despise them. It’s a common practice among Christians to consider yourself better than others when most of the time, you don't even know everything about them. In Hebrews 9:27 it says, “It is appointed unto men once to die and after this comes judgment.” So when does Almighty God, Creator of this universe, judge people? According to this verse, “Once to die and after this comes judgment.” So God judges people only after they die.

When do you judge people? You judge people long before they die. Why does God wait till a person dies before He judges? He may be an evil person, but God says, “I have hope for him. Maybe he will change,” and so God waits. Think of what would have happened if God had judged the dying thief on the cross who went to paradise before he died. Consider if God judged him even a few minutes before or few hours before he died. That would have been terrible. He was deserving to go to Paradise finally, but he would have been judged and sentenced to hell. God waited until he died, and then took him to paradise. This shows that God waits until a person dies before He judges him. Man is impatient and judges people long before they die. This is the foolishness of man. He doesn't know all the facts. He doesn't know 99% of the person's private, inner life. He doesn't know how much that person has struggled or prayed, but he judges him. No serious High Court judge would ever judge with such little evidence. If a judge knows only 1% of the case, he will say, “Listen, I need more evidence before I can pass a judgment. Until then, I will suspend judgment.” This is what every Christian should say too.

When we judge a person, we're really just showing the condition of our own heart. As it says in Proverbs 27:19,“As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man.” Or like in mirror, a man sees his own face. This means what you imagine finding in that person's heart as a bad motive is only an indication of the wrong attitudes you have in your own heart. You imagine that man can’t possibly be doing that with a good motive. You think, “It must be with a bad motive because I myself would only do such a thing with a bad motive.” You are revealing your own heart. It's very foolish to judge other people.

Think of the story of the prodigal son. In the story of the prodigal son, we read about the elder son. He was very upset when he saw the Father rejoicing over the return of the prodigal son. When the Father goes out and asks the elder son why he hasn't come in, see what he says in Luke 15:30,“This son of yours.” He doesn't even call him, “this brother of mine.” What a despising way to speak. “He has devoured your wealth with prostitutes.” How did he know that? How did he imagine that his younger brother was going around with prostitutes? Did somebody come and report that back to him? Not at all. He assumed this man, his younger brother, must have been spending money on prostitutes. It may not have been true at all. He may have been drinking and wasting his money in foolish ways, but perhaps not on prostitutes. But when you have a wrong attitude like this older brother’s attitude towards his younger brother, you can always imagine the worst about the other person. And whenever you imagine the worst about somebody else, you can recognize that the problem is with you more than with the other person. The other person may end up sitting with his Father at the dining table and enjoy the fattened calf, and you may end up outside the house.

The story of the prodigal son is a story where in the beginning of the story, the younger son is outside the house and the elder son is inside. At the end of the story, the younger son is inside the house, and the elder son is outside the house, because he is judging people. Make sure you don't end up outside the Father's house because you're judging people with insufficient information. The safest thing to do is not to judge.

Do not judge. Jesus says even if you're judging, what are you doing, judging a little speck in your brother's eye, when you have a log in your own eye? That's what He said. What is this log that is in a person's eye? You can’t have a physical log inside your eye. But Jesus is exaggerating to show how grievous your sin is compared to his. Granted, perhaps he did something terribly wrong. But your unloving attitude towards that person is a log compared to his sin, which is only like a speck.

Maybe he went to prostitutes. Okay, that's a sin. But then even that is only a speck compared to your unloving attitude towards him. That’s like a log. The Lord says to get rid of your unloving attitudes towards others. He says that unloving attitude towards that person makes you constantly want to find fault with that person. Whatever that person does, you put a wrong motive to it. That person cannot do anything good. The person is evil in your eyes, but you don't see how evil you are to have such an unloving attitude towards that person. So what does He say? Imagine a man who has very poor eyesight. Would you go to that person to pull something out of your eye? Would you go to an eye doctor who is almost blind due to cataracts and other problems with his eyes? How in the world can he look into your eyes and remove a little speck from them? I wouldn't want to go anywhere near that person.

That is what the Lord says. How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out your eye,” when there is a huge log in your eye that keeps you from seeing properly? You can damage his eyes. But the Lord says, “You hypocrite! See your unloving attitude.” Every person who has an unloving attitude towards another person and judges that person is a hypocrite according to Matthew 7:5. First, get rid of this unloving attitude, and then you will see clearly. Then that brother may come to you of his own accord and say, “Brother, could you please take the speck out of my eye?” Isn’t that wonderful when you come to that type of situation?