NOTES for Mat 7:1-5
The psalmist calls us to acknowledge God's almighty power and goodness and to turn our hearts toward hope in His mercy. And Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, adds: if we want His mercy, then we ourselves must be merciful, not search out other people's faults or condemn them. It is interesting that the beam in our own eye does not keep us from seeing the speck in another person's eye, but it makes it completely impossible for us to help that person.