[This reflection by Dazz Jones was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 11/Jan/2026]
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how quickly my brain makes judgements. It happens almost without my express permission or even acknowledgement. A look, a tone of voice, a comment taken the wrong way – and suddenly I’ve formed a neat little story about someone else. My brain seems to like things tidy, categorised, black and white. “They’re like this.” “People like that always do this.” It feels efficient. It feels safe. But Jesus helps me see it’s also quite flawed!
Last Sunday’s sermon helped me realise that prejudging isn’t just a bad habit; it’s something our brains are wired to do. We’re constantly scanning for shortcuts, trying to make sense of the world as quickly as possible. The problem is that people aren’t something we can take shortcuts on. They’re complex, layered, and often carrying things we cannot see. Step in, Jesus’ challenge:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Luke 6 v41 [NIVUK]
It’s funny, exaggerated, and uncomfortably accurate. I rarely wake up thinking, today I’ll judge someone. But I do notice myself feeling irritated, superior, or quietly convinced that I’d have handled things better than they did.
What challenges me most is that Jesus doesn’t say, “Ignore right and wrong” or “Never think critically”. Instead, he points the spotlight firmly back at me. Before I rush to inspect the speck in someone else’s life, I’m invited to pause and examine what’s clouding my own vision. My assumptions. My insecurities. My unacknowledged faults.
This is where black and white thinking begins to soften. When I recognise my own plank, the sharp edges of judgement start to blur. I become slower to label and quicker to listen. I remember that the grace I need is the same grace others need too.
Living this out isn’t easy. It’s far simpler to judge than to understand, easier to categorise than to be curious. But following Jesus often means choosing the harder, better way. A way that replaces judgement with humility and criticism with compassion.
Perhaps this week, as we spot our minds leaping to conclusions, we can gently ask: “What might I be missing?” And maybe, just maybe, we’ll find that clearer vision begins not with fixing others, but with allowing Jesus to work in us first.
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Last Sunday’s reflection: Looking Forward and Backward by Helen Ruffhead
Contributed by Dazz Jones; © Dazz Jones