Before I Speak – Matthew 7:1-12

Do to others
what you would have them do to you.

A beautiful sentence.
Simple enough for a child to remember,
deep enough to follow for a lifetime.

It sounds gentle on the tongue,
but it reaches everywhere—
into thought,
into tone,
into the private verdicts we pass
before we know the facts.

How quickly we judge
as though we see everything,
as though motives lie open before us,
as though we know the whole story.

But we do not.
God sees what we cannot.

Still we speak,
sharp with opinion,
quick to name another’s fault,
slow to examine our own.

And sometimes the deepest wounds
are made by people
who think they are speaking truth.

You give us that strange, vivid picture:
someone stooping to remove a speck
from another’s eye,
while a log remains in their own.

Absurd,
and painfully familiar.

How often we avoid
the hard work of repentance
by concentrating on somebody else’s failure.

First the log, you say.
First the hidden pride,
the cherished sin,
the harsh spirit.

Then perhaps
with clearer sight
and gentler hands
we may truly help.

And still,
you do not call us to blindness.
There is a wisdom that knows
not every heart is ready,
not every truth will be received,
not every holy thing
should be thrown into careless hands.

So teach us discernment
without contempt,
truth without cruelty.

And because none of this comes naturally,
you tell us to pray.

Ask.
Seek.
Knock.

Come like children
to a good Father.
Come again.
Come honestly.
Come often.

We ask so many things
of so many others,
yet forget the God
who hears.

Sometimes we ask poorly,
wanting what will not nourish us,
reaching for stones
and calling them bread.

But the Father knows.
The Father gives better.

So let me become
slower to condemn,
quicker to repent,
careful with the souls of others,
persistent in prayer,
and gentle in speech.

Do to others
what you would have them do to you.

Let that word remain with me
before I speak,
before I assume,
before I wound.

For I live each day
before a Father
who has dealt with me
not in harshness,
but in mercy.

Original message by Paul Dale, The Bridge Church Macquarie Park NSW
22 March 2026