Sticks and Stones

Do you remember that rhyme we used to say as kids? "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" Ya we all knew that was not true but we used to say it anyway to try to deflect the nasty things that people would say to us. Did you know that Jesus talked about sticks and stones? He said some pretty piercing things in reference to sticks and to stones. When he talked about stick and stones he was talking about judgement and the judgmental attitude that we hold towards people.

We see in Matthew 7 that Jesus asked the question, Why do you look at the little spec of an issue that your friend has and yet you ignore the massive log of an issue that you have. Isn't it easier for us to get bent out of shape with our spouses bad attitude rather than look at the sin issue that the Holy Spirit has been convicting us about for a week. Jesus is basically saying to us something that I say to my 4 year old all the time when he is tattle-tailing on his brother "Worry 'bout urself!"

Have you ever had something in your eye? It is a really delicate process to try to get it out and it can be very painful. It requires a deft hand and someone who can see clearly and knows what they are doing. I remember getting a chunk of wood in my eye while I was camping as a kid. My dad tried everything he knew to get it out, however he was unsuccessful and I was in a lot of pain. When he couldn't get it out he sent me to his friend Charlie that had medical training and because of his background he knew what he was doing he was able to get a Q-tip and get it right out.

Jesus addressed rocks in the situation in John 8:3-11. The Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus and tried to trap him and get him to pass judgement on the situation. In the midst of their scheme of entrapment Jesus had a brilliant response:

" 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.' ” John 8:7

In that one sentence Jesus was able to clearly acknowledge the sin that occurred and yet responded with compassion and forgiveness. He demonstrated to us how we are to respond in relationship toward others. We are to approach them with sound judgement, Jesus did not ignore the sin that was committed. He was able to rightly discern the situation, seeing right through the scheme, seeing the clear evidence of sin. This is what it means to be able to have reasonable judgement. Jesus was able to do this and not respond in a way that was judgmental of the woman.

There is a difference between a reasonable judgement and being judgmental of someone. Judgmental refers to the following: maintaining a negative, nitpicking, disapproving, condemning, and hyper-critical attitude regarding a situation or a person in need. A judgmental attitude focuses on the person instead of the sin. What happens when we allow this plank of judgmentalism to remain in our heart is we block the love of God from being able to flow through us to the other person.

If we guard our hearts from a judgmental attitude, then we can be like Charlie and we can move with precision and accuracy to deal with the problem. We will have a clear focus to assess the situation and be able to go right after the issue without causing damage and pain.

Let's keep our hearts free of judgement so that we can be a channel for God's love.