Judge Not

“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.” Before this line in chapter 7, the speaker on the mount is talking about not judging people. “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”. I believe this is the most neglected, along with the most important teachings in Matthew 5-7. My freshman year in high school, I had a teacher who spent a whole day giving a lecture about not judging people and getting to know people before you actually make a decision about them. From that day on, I walked around high school trying to get to know everyone without any pre-determined thoughts about them. To this day, I have met some of my best friends that way and have built some great, healthy relationships by simply just doing that. I believe if people would just walk around, keeping an open mind and getting to know people before they thought differently about them, the world will be a better place. I know that is a huge claim to make but I believe there would be a lot less hate crimes, which has become a huge problem in our society today. Matthew, or the speaker on the mount, saw this before it was coming. They realized that if we keep an open mind to our friends, we can keep an open mind to our relationships.