Tend to Your Own Knitting

I remember the first time my Dad made this statement to my older brother…I laughed out loud, and I almost got myself in trouble.

You see, no one knitted in my family as a child growing up. It wasn’t something we saw as an on-going activity in our home. So, I thought the expression was funny. My Dad didn’t. My older brother was being ‘called out’ for doing something he was quite adept at doing back in those days…comparing his situation or his punishment with that of his two younger sisters. My Dad was telling him to ‘mind his own business.’

Peter fell into the same trap with Jesus when Peter was overly concerned about John. You may remember that Jesus had just re-instated Peter for his denials of Christ before the crucifixion in John 21:21-22. Jesus and Peter were walking, with John tagging along close behind them. Peter asked; “Lord, what about him?” and basically Jesus told him to ‘tend to his own knitting’…it might have been funnier if Jesus had said, tend to your own netting (I can’t resist a little fisherman humor), but He didn’t…because He was as serious as my Dad.

Don’t we struggle with this all of the time? We get programmed to comparing ourselves to others. I think it goes back to when we were in school and grades were handed out. We started early on comparing how we did with our neighbor…how many words did they miss on the spelling test? Who got the best grade in the class? It went on and on.

But the Bible says in no uncertain terms, in James 4:6-12, that we are not to criticize one another, and we are not to judge one another. I can hear your exasperated sigh as you read this. You may not think you judge other people or criticize someone else…but it happens more than you think. We judge people by the clothes they wear, their accent, their hair, their political preferences, their house, car, yard, and even their church denomination. If you watch television a lot, we judge acting, singing, parenting, fashion…you name it! And this doesn’t even include beauty pageants where we avidly judge costumes, talent, swimwear, and responses to interview questions.

The Bible says, it’s got to STOP! Judging and critiquing, and keeping up with the Joneses’ are detrimental to our spiritual transformation journey. We do it because it’s second nature and because society gives us so many opportunities to participate in it; and other times we do it because we get a feeling of satisfaction that we are ‘better’ than someone else. But the Bible says that God alone is able to save and destroy...we are not to judge. We have enough to do just tending to our own knitting!

So here is a spiritual transformation challenge. See how many times this week, you find yourself judging, criticizing or comparing yourself to someone else. Keep track. Count it up. I think you will be shocked.

Action steps:

1.    Were you surprised when you kept track of your judging and critiquing of others for a week?  When were you most prone to judging? Around your friends, children, co-workers?  Ask God to make you more aware of this behavior.

2.    Try not to join in, when others are judging, comparing, or criticizing someone else.

3.    If a part of your job is to assess the work of others, prayerfully consider ways to point out a person’s shortcomings while finding ways to encourage them and suggest positive ways they can improve.

4.    If you are raising children, try not to compare them to their siblings, and encourage them to spend their time improving their behavior instead of comparing themselves to other siblings or peers.