I have a two-year-old grandson. Like any grandson of that age, he is cute, adorable, and occasionally frustrating. Unlike many, he is large (huge) and has advanced gross motor skills. A couple of months ago, when he was right 23 months old, my daughter-in-law took him in to a clinic. When the nurse came in to the room, she immediately chewed Sara out for allowing the child to have a bottle at his age, explaining that it is not recommended for children to use bottles so long. A few minutes later, the nurse asked exactly how old the child was. Upon learning that he was 23 months, she expressed her surprise, saying that she thought he was at least two and a half and probably three.

A lot of us don’t really like the verses in the Bible about judging others. When we read Matthew 7:1-5 about judging other and  specks and logs, we want to believe that we don’t really have logs in our eyes; it’s those other Christians who misjudge. After all, judging others is kind of fun. It makes us feel good about ourselves when we point out the inadequacies of those around us. So we tend to justify our judgment by looking at other verses that encourage us discern good and evil and to avoid Christians who are are living in open, acknowledged sin.

I think there is something to be learned from the story of my grandson and the nurse. The nurse was not entirely wrong. A three-year-old probably shouldn’t be drinking a bottle in her clinic. On the other hand, she applied her knowledge of what was good and bad for a child incorrectly because her vision was incorrect, leading her to misunderstand the situation.

After telling us not to judge each other, Jesus went on to talk about specks and logs in our eyes. I think it’s significant that vision was involved, because part of his point is that we don’t see clearly. The reality is that our human eyes never see the whole picture. God sees into the heart; we do not. We may know whether or not something is a sin. We may not know whether the person doing it is even a Christ-follower, what other sins they’re working on overcoming, or many other things about their journey.

Even worse, when we judge by appearances alone, we may think something connotes sin when it simply doesn’t. That tattoo may be from a different period in someone’s life or it may be a symbol of a step on their journey with Christ. That glass of wine or bottle of beer is actually not a sin in and of itself (Biblically speaking), and it does not prove whether there is a pattern of drunkenness that would be sinful from a Biblical perspective.

There’s an old saying about judging books by their covers. It’s a far more dangerous thing to judge a human being by appearance.

Know what is good and what is evil, but don’t assume that you know what is going on in another person’s heart and life.

“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 (ESV)