In Greek mythology there is a story about a robber chieftain named Proclustes. The robbers who invaded his territory were taken to his cave, where he had an iron bedstead. They were all carefully measured on this bed. If they were too short for the bed, they were stretched to fit it. If they were too long, their ankles and legs were cut off until their length was the same as the bed. The myth records that the day came when Theseus invaded the territory of Proclustes and killed him, but he did not destroy his iron bed.
To be honest, the bed of Proclustes is still around. You will find it in our homes, in our offices, in our churches, and in every place where humans go. We find it easy to measure others in the way Proclustes did. If they are too short, we stretch them out. If they are too long, we cut them down to size, because they must fit our bed. Southern Baptists have been good at measuring each other in this way in recent years. Since I am a Southern Baptist, I can say this. But we don’t have a monopoly on the practice by any means.
Christ, during His days on planet earth, realized the ease with which we human beings tend to measure others by our own yardstick, not God’s. He saw the scribes and Pharisees measuring others in this way. He saw dissention and division created by the kind of nitpicking that scrupulously strained out gnats from their drink while they swallowed entire camels – hide, hair, humps, hooves, and all.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addressed the subject of faultfinding directly when He said: “Do not judge, or you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1 NIV). This was not a gentle suggestion. It was not just a gentle nudge: “Do this if you think well of it.” He gave it to His disciples as an imperative. Citizens of God’s kingdom dishonor Him and do harm both to themselves and to others when they engage in the sin of faultfinding.
Jesus was not prohibiting the practice of making moral judgments. It is imperative that we make moral judgments. In fact, Jesus passed moral judgments on others when it was deserved. For instance, He called the scribes and Pharisees “a generation of vipers and whited sepulchers.” I submit that when Jesus calls a group of people vipers, they should definitely consider themselves to be vipers.
The New Testament makes it clear that Jesus is diametrically opposed to anyone who would inflict slow death on others by relentless criticism. Some parents overly criticize their children. Teachers overly criticize their students. Employers unfairly criticize their employees. Sometimes ministers unjustly criticize the members of their church family. To use today’s language Jesus is saying: “What goes around comes around.” Another expression we all have heard puts it this way: “Your chickens will always come home to roost.”
When we hesitate to make moral decisions, we can easily drift into indiscriminate moral neutrality. There are times when Christians need to stand up against moral and spiritual wrongs in their community. The statement by Jesus that we will be measured by the same yardstick with which we measure others has been called “the law of reciprocity.” In other words, we get back what we give out.
Edward Wallis Hoch expressed it this way: “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly behooves any of us to find fault with the rest of us.” The important question is this: How can we refrain from the sin of faultfinding? First of all, we should recognize that it is a sin. Second, we should confess it to God as a sin. Third, we should stop doing it, and God will help us do that.
Finally, it is good advice to always let any judgment we make concerning others pass through these three filters: (1) Is it true? (2) Is it necessary? (3) Is it kind?
The Paper Pulpit 
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