Pointing Fingers

Matthew 7:1-5 NKJV
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

While yes we are called to reprove and rebuke which often means calling others out, this needs to be done in a loving manner (exhortation). Also you’ve heard the expression “make sure your own house is in order first…” That’s specifically what this text in Matthew is saying. Make sure you are cleansed of the thing you are about to point fingers about. This is why I don’t like the term judge. God should be the only judge of our lives. However, I think God has called us to be His “fruit inspectors,” to reprove, rebuke, AND exhort. This process isn’t designed to shame others, but to lift them up with encouragement. You can probably think of a time where someone has pointed out an error and made you feel horrible and a time where someone instead took time to teach you and encourage you to do better. Which did you respond to better? Probably the encouragement. Next time you see a brother or sister in error, put yourself in their shoes, how would you want someone to approach you, with harsh pointing fingers, or with love and encouragement?


Have you ever heard the expression, when you point a finger at someone else, you’ve got four pointing back to yourself? Although a childish quote, it carries truth and can be eye opening when thought about in a Biblical context. Some argue that we are called to reprove & rebuke (call out mistakes), which I understand and partly agree with. That calling is part of a bigger text that we can’t take out of context. 2 Timothy 4:2 NKJV says “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.” From that text we have more to do than just call out mistakes. We are first commanded to be ready every day to share the Word. But not just be ready, but go do it. Only after we are successful in that are we commanded to reprove and rebuke. But even then we aren’t just instructed to reprove and rebuke, but to couple that with exhortation or love and encouragement. Take a look at the follow text from Matthew.

Bro. Austin Chapman is the Youth Minister
at Sugar Creek Baptist in Murray, KY and founder
of Inflamed Church Ministries.