“Judge not” oh boy here we go. One of the big abused verses that every liberal weasel knows will magically force us to support whatever monstrous evil they’re engaged in. This doesn’t mean we have no ability or obligation to ever disapprove of or correct one another. This isn’t a command not to judge, this is a warning that there are consequences for judgement so we should judge rightly. Taken in the context of Jesus’s primary enemies at the time (Pharisees and Sadducees (I’m shortening this to P&S)), this is clearly about hypocrites. They call attention to themselves as they fast and do charity and make it all about them. It’s about proof of worthiness (it is impossible to be “worthy” of God’s love) and they were constantly looking for the sins of others to knock them down a peg so they could be the most pious.

The judgement being described as problematic is you judging the heart of another man as worthy or unworthy because you are stepping into the throne of God where you don’t belong

So if you’re judging people as saved or damned, you better be prepared for God to ask why you were stepping on His toes and show you exactly what you were hiding in your sinful heart as you declared yourself better than everyone. The Christian should know right from wrong. If you see someone sharing pornographic pictures on twitter or being blasphemous, you should say something to them. But if you’re barking down everyone’s throat looking for the slightest offense you can nail them on, it’s a pride issue and Jesus is talking about you right now. I’ve been guilty of this, as have many others. I think the “cage stage” guys get it the worst because they’re super excited and zealous, they just need that energy focused and used productively. Nice that you know the rules now and suddenly you see that everyone around you is waist-deep in sin, but don’t get too cocky about it. If you lack God’s mercy and God’s grace while you presume to exercise God’s perfect justice and judgement, God will show you the exact level of forgiveness you showed others so you realize the depth of your sin and limitations.

Specks and logs builds on this. You can have a laser guided focus on someone else’s sin and be somehow blind to all your own. I had a Catholic tell me I wasn’t a Christian because I had just moved and not found a physical church yet and was watching sermons online from my home church. Same guy comes in a month later and he’s got ashes on his forehead and watching porn on his phone. It’s important that we correct each other not from a place of perceived holiness in ourselves but from humility and love of each other. Similarly, on another website, I corrected a Christian brother because he had an attraction to “monster girls” (Japanese art of human/monster hybrids. Think a spider but with a woman’s face and boobs). I said it was bestiality adjacent and still basically porn and he shouldn’t be engaging with that material. A friend of his was a pastor and hit me back with “specks and logs” because I was open about liking chubby women. My argument was that 1. Those aren’t on the same scale of problematic and 2. I don’t have to be perfect to see a problem with what he was doing and 3. Then if you’re sexually pure, it should’ve been YOU correcting him instead of enabling. So that verse can be twisted to excuse behavior too.

Pearls before swine: Don’t give valuable things to creatures that will waste it or get mad about it. Dogs weren’t pets and pigs were unclean in the time of the Jews, so these aren’t popular animals to be compared to. The point isn’t to be insulting but to drive home that you shouldn’t waste time on people who are obviously hostile or invite harassment. Wading into enemy territory to be a punching bag for unbelievers you know aren’t going to give you the time of day isn’t loving, it’s wasteful.

“Ask and it will be given to you”. Let’s start by acknowledging this is not prosperity gospel stuff. This isn’t “God give me a pony” and you get one. This is about persistent seeking of God and faith in Him. Also God, again, isn’t a monkey’s paw; He’s not going to screw you because you didn’t ask for exactly the right thing. He’s not going to give you a rock instead of bread.

The golden rule: Do unto others. This goes a little further than “don’t be mean” because it’s saying “do what YOU wish they would do to YOU”. Aka you probably wish other people would go out of their way to be kind to you, so do THAT. “Don’t be evil” is the most minimal expectation, you should strive to be loving.

The wide gate of the time was to keep doing what the P&S’s were doing: focus on the outward appearance of holiness with no change of heart. The narrow, difficult path is Christ. We’re also cautioned against wolves in sheep’s clothing; people who appear to be brothers but steer you to the path of destruction. You know them by their fruits, that is their actions and character. A tree that is diseased can’t bear good fruit and a good tree can’t bear bad fruit. We’re quite capable of deceiving ourselves though. Not everyone who proclaims Jesus will enter the kingdom. There’s no shortage of people who call themselves Christian because they went to church once as a baby and pray to “the universe” sometimes. It’s TRUE faith. Not the label, not performative actions. You build your house on a rock, that is, a solid foundation of living according to Jesus’s teachings, and you will weather the storms. You won’t be like those who suffer pains and turn from God, having never really known Him.