Things aren’t always what they seem. And despite the old saying that “Seeing is Believing,” it’s not always true. And that’s why we should not judge another, even when you think you’ve actually seen a thing happen.

Here’s an example: Our neighbor right across the street from us, is an early-riser, and he somehow got into the habit of picking up our morning newspaper and putting it on our doorstep, when he’d come out to get his own paper. Just an example of a good neighbor.

But once in a great while, I’m the one who gets up first, and so I get a chance to return the favor. The first time I did that, I picked up my own paper as I walked across the yard to put his at his garage door, and as I came back toward my house, a car drove by and saw me walking out of his yard, carrying a newspaper. It looked all the world like I was stealing his paper, and the motorists saw it with his own eyes. And do you know, I realized how it looked and must have had a guilty appearance of being caught in the act.

Do you see how easily you can judge someone, and have no doubt of what you saw? In talking to you in the past, I’ve said that you can drink water out of a beer bottle, and the person watching will have total proof in his own mind, that you’re a guzzler.

And so I repeat to you from the book of Matthew, seventh chapter and first verse: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” I learned long ago in writing news stories, to get both sides, no matter how true the first account seems to be. Again from the Bible, get the mote out of your own eye first! The harder you judge another, the harder Christ is going to judge you!