Guarding the Heart Against Judgment
SATURDAY

The Lord’s disciples plucked heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate on the Sabbath. Thus, what they did was of very little consequence, both outwardly and in itself. Yet the Pharisees could not restrain themselves from rebuking them (Luke 6:1–2). What prompted them to speak about this? Outwardly, unreasonable zeal; inwardly, a spirit of faultfinding.

This spirit fastens upon everything and portrays it all in the dark colors of lawlessness and spiritual ruin. This weakness, to a greater or lesser degree, is almost universal among those who do not keep watch over themselves. One may manage to refrain from speaking, but few succeed in restraining judgmental thoughts. Someone crouches beside the heart and incites it to condemn, and the heart begins to pour forth condemnation.

Meanwhile, the faultfinder himself is ready to do evil as soon as no one is watching. In every respect, he remains firmly rooted in an evil disposition. It seems that he judges and condemns precisely to compensate, through attacks upon others—even unjustified ones—for the sense of righteousness wounded and stifled within himself.

But someone who loves righteousness and lives according to it knows how difficult it is to be upright in deeds, and still more difficult to be upright in the movements of the heart. Therefore, he will never be quick to condemn. Rather, he is ready, through forbearance, to cover not only the small transgressions of others but even their great ones.

The Lord did not condemn the faultfinding Pharisees, but gently explained to them that the disciples had acted in a way that anyone could readily justify if he judged the matter properly. And this is almost always the case: consider your neighbor’s action carefully, and you will find that it does not have the grave and dreadful character it seemed to have at first glance.

+ St. Theophan the Recluse - Thoughts for Every Day of the Year

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