GO AHEAD, JUDGE ME!
06/07/19 12:26 Filed in: Faith
You have probably heard someone say that the Bible teaches us not to judge others. Yet, we judge others constantly. Every jury is judging the plaintiff and defendant presented before them. Every candidate running for office is judged by their voting peers. Every commander going into battle judges the strength of the opposition. Yes, we judge a lot. And the misconception that we are Biblically bound not to judge simply is not true.
Jesus knew humans would struggle with the whole judgment thing, and He put out a disclaimer/warning for us: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you. 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? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5
This verse does not mean that we should never make judgments. We obviously make judgments all the time. We judge between right and wrong, between dangerous and safe choices, where to go eat due to how the restaurant help looks when they serve our food, the condition of the Taxi/Uber/Lyft car and driver that we are trusting our lives with when we travel, etc. Jesus is telling us to not judge others in a hypocritical way. He is saying to examine myself first, take the log out of my own eye so that I can then see clearly how to best help the other person, likely because I now have experience dealing with the same thing and can now help show that person how to be an overcomer. This is important... we are not called to overlook sin. But we should also NOT make it a habit to be super critical of someone when our own selfish sin in the same area needs correcting as well. If we do, we, too, will be judged for overlooking the same issue that we are trying to point out.
All this being said, if you ever see me out doing something or struggling with something that you have already struggled with, something you know how to get the victory over and can help me find my way out of the jungle and into the fruit-filled fields of freedom, please, PLEASE, PLEASE.... JUDGE ME!!!
Jesus knew humans would struggle with the whole judgment thing, and He put out a disclaimer/warning for us: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you. 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? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5
This verse does not mean that we should never make judgments. We obviously make judgments all the time. We judge between right and wrong, between dangerous and safe choices, where to go eat due to how the restaurant help looks when they serve our food, the condition of the Taxi/Uber/Lyft car and driver that we are trusting our lives with when we travel, etc. Jesus is telling us to not judge others in a hypocritical way. He is saying to examine myself first, take the log out of my own eye so that I can then see clearly how to best help the other person, likely because I now have experience dealing with the same thing and can now help show that person how to be an overcomer. This is important... we are not called to overlook sin. But we should also NOT make it a habit to be super critical of someone when our own selfish sin in the same area needs correcting as well. If we do, we, too, will be judged for overlooking the same issue that we are trying to point out.
All this being said, if you ever see me out doing something or struggling with something that you have already struggled with, something you know how to get the victory over and can help me find my way out of the jungle and into the fruit-filled fields of freedom, please, PLEASE, PLEASE.... JUDGE ME!!!