The Mistake of Judging
I want to talk about a topic that usually brings up conflicting points of views. Judging. Let’s talk about that for a moment. I think both sides have an equal amount of it, the believer and unbeliever alike. The believer judges the unbeliever’s worldly ways. The unbeliever judges the believer’s uptight, different views. Do you know what both these sides have in common? They’re both judging the other party without knowing them individually. They’re basing their point of view on an entire group based on a personal experience with one person, or one hurtful community, instead of getting to know the new person/group they’re judging personally. It’s unfortunate, but it’s natural. When you’re wounded, your first instinct is to hide. When you feel attacked, your first instinct is to attack back. It says more about you and how you handle fear than it does about the other party. I’ve been guilty of this too. We all are. If you’re a human being, you’ve judged someone at one point or another in your life. Now, it’s not the first thought that pops into your head that makes you guilty, but it’s the next one. Once you’ve realized you automatically judged someone, do you continue to judge them, or do you try to give them a chance? See, it’s the second thought that’s a choice. Your instinct/way you were brought up/mindset you were raised in don’t define you, but it’s what you choose to do next that separates you from the crowd that follows. We all fall short of the glory of God. He is perfect, we are not. Instead of clawing at each other, we should claw our way up into His presence, helping each other climb into a fruitful relationship with Him.
The disciple Peter followed, believed, and loved Jesus. He could never see himself doing anything that would hurt his Savior. Yet, when people accused him of being a follower of Jesus, he denied it three times just as Jesus told him he would. (Matthew 26:69-75). He immediately felt remorse, horrified by his own actions. Now, the natural instinct would be to run and never come back. The natural option would be to hide in shame, move to a new town, start over, forget it happened, and try to move forward, right? Peter didn’t do that. He fought against his nature because it’s normal to be flawed, but what you do after the mistake defines you. Whether you continue or not, each time it’s a choice, each time it shapes you. This is not just for judging, but for everything in life. Peter recognized his error, repented, and came back. When he came back, he was able to witness the resurrection of Jesus, and spent the rest of his life preaching the gospel, even dying for it, but choosing to do so. You see, people think that because they’re broken and others reject them, that God will reject them too. But friends, let me tell you, our God is so good. He’s not like that. He takes you back with open arms.
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning…. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Joel 2:12 and Joel 2:13.
When you seek His face, you give yourself the opportunity to experience His presence and His blessings, which overflow the deeper you walk with Him. You see, Jesus always knew Peter was going to deny Him, but He still chose to ask Peter to follow Him. It wasn’t just that Peter chose to follow Jesus, but Jesus chose Peter first. He chose Judas too. Both betrayed Him, but one chose to run and the other chose to stay. I ask, in these uncertain times where you have plenty of time for reflection, what will you choose?
If God forgives abundantly to the one who repents and returns to Him, who are we that we dare not to forgive each other? Do we think ourselves so high and mighty that we have the power to destroy a person with a single word, when God himself chooses to heal that person with His grace? One of my favorite examples of this is when the Pharises saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. They immediately judged him and asked why he was sitting with them. Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Matthew 9:12). Only God gives grace, only God gives judgement, only God gives true healing. You know what we can give? Kindness, forgiveness, compassion. Think of a book. You have all these different characters and though mostly you read through the eyes of the main character, sometimes the author will let you glimpse into the mind of another character, and have a wider view of the entire picture. When this happens, you gain a better understanding of what’s really going on.
This applies to everyone, including inside of the church. Yes, there’s judgement inside the church and among believers as well. Colossians 2:18 says “let no one disqualify you.” People tend to judge you based on the traditions you keep or don’t, but it’s not their place to disqualify you. It’s God’s decision, not yours. “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:17). God knows the substance of your heart and He knows what your intentions/motives are. God convicts everyone personally because He is a personal God. He knows everything about your personality and the way you tackle things. He made you, He knows everything about you. God also says that the Spirit will convict you when you’re doing something that doesn’t come from Him and if it doesn’t come from Him, it’s coming from the enemy. What a scary thing when a person no longer feels conviction. It means they are so far from God that they don’t even recognize His voice anymore. They’ve chosen not to listen so much that the voice is lost among their deaf ears. (Matthew 13:3). So how do you handle things when you’re trying not to judge someone, but they’re obviously not really following the Lord, though they claim to be? The Bible says their fruits will reveal if they are true or not. If their actions don’t resemble the fruits of the spirit and go against scripture, then you know they’re not true. Don’t condemn them, pray for them. They need it, just like we all do. If they are truly God’s, then He will reveal Himself to them and teach them the ways of the Spirit. John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Like Peter, God has chosen His true followers and He will receive anyone who truly seeks Him because He knows who they will be. He knows who will come for a little while and then stray, and He knows who’s in all the way. “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:10. We can talk to people about God, encourage them to dive into Scripture, and pray for them, but the choice is theirs alone. We can only nudge and encourage, but we cannot steer. It’s not our place. God will judge us all individually when the times comes.
If you read the Bible, you’ll see that all the prophets had different ways of handling the task set before them. They each gave the message God asked them to give in their own way based on their different personalities. I was once expressing that I was not a fan of followers who went out screaming the gospel on the streets because it seemed a very intense method that would turn away rather than reign in, but my brother said something that stopped me. He asked me if I was standing next to a person and saw a fire, but they didn’t, would I gently ask them to walk to safety, or would I grab them and run to the nearest exit door? I realized he was right. It may be a serious method, but it’s a serious matter! It’s literally life or death for your soul. It’s about eternity. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” We all have different ways of expressing what the Lord has revealed to us and different ways of leading others to Him. This verse tells us to be kind and personalize how we talk to each individual person (seasoned with salt).
Let me also just add that a person should not be judged for being young in the church either. It’s not about your age, but about your heart and how open you are to receive the Spirit, both praise and rebuke. Yes, years bring wisdom, but the Pharises had all the knowledge in the world of teachings and still understood nothing about the spirit of God. They had an earthly knowledge instead of a spiritual one because they were consumed by pride, hypocrisy, and comparison, thinking so highly of themselves that they never let the fruits of the spirit grow within them. They remained on the surface of scripture because they never let it settle deep inside. Just because you have knowledge of something, doesn’t mean you have understanding. 1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in faith, in love, in purity.”
God calls us to love one another as ourselves. Though we don’t always like the person next to us, it’s not our position to condemn or have the final say. It’s God’s job, not ours. If God extends mercy and it’s our call to honor Him and walk in His ways, then why would we act in a different manner than the example He set forth for us? Why would we not also extend grace if He does first?
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the 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
