Judgment

"Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things." -Romans 2:1

When I fold laundry, I always take extra special care to make sure my husband's clothes are right-side-out. I do this because I think to myself "Stephan is apt to put his clothes on inside-out if they're folded in the drawer that way." I don't take this same care with my own clothes.

So yesterday Stephan left for work much earlier than I, and I got ready alone in the house, then left for work with my big poofy coat on. At 2 in the afternoon, I chanced to touch the edge of my shirt sleeve - and felt a seam. Looking down, I saw that my shirt was inside out. This was a shirt with threaded embroidery on the front, so behind the embroidery was that dryer-sheet looking material. I'd been walking around all day with a dryer sheet sewed to my chest and my Old Navy tags sticking out perpendicular to my neck! I went to the bathroom and flipped my shirt. Minutes later my boss asked me how I was doing. I asked if he'd noticed that my shirt had been on inside-out all day and just didn't tell me so. He told me no, he hadn't noticed - then laughed uproariously.

It's not only with clothes that this is my experience though. How often I get irritated with people's self-centeredness, only to turn around and act self-centered, or offended by others' prideful attitude only to whip around and be prideful myself. This is why scripture urges us to examine ourselves first before we point the finger at others - because chances are we're doing the same things, provoking the same irritated responses from others.

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see 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,' when there is the log 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

Jesus wasn't bashful with presenting reality here. It's a comical yet helpful picture, a person walking around with a log sticking out of their eye. It's almost like the cartoon character carrying the ladder over his shoulder when someone comes up behind him and calls his name. With a "What?" the character spins around and the ladder knocks his friend in the head! And the cartoon character has no idea how foolish he looks in his oblivion, or how distructive he's being.

This, of course, is a hard thing to master. I'm much more apt to think uncharitably about others than be honest about my own sin. It's helpful to picture how ridiculous it is for a person, who's vision is completely obstructed by a log in their eye, to go up to others who only have a little speck in their's and offer to help them remove it. We're equally as foolish when we become judgmental against another person's sin, because in most cases we've committed that same sin ourselves.

Putting my shirt on inside out taught me a good lesson with broad reaching application. I'll be folding both me and Stephan's clothes with special care - and try my darndest to be conscious of my own log.