I heard such an honest teaching on
judgment this last weekend that I just had to share. My pastor, who is such a
transparent person, really shed some light on a few verses that I did not
really understand. Specifically:
“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment
you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be
measured to you.3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but
do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your
brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your
own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you
will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. 6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not
throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to
attack you. Matt. 7:1-6
Firstly, I know I have heard it
said countless times that we are not to judge.
Many people, believers of Jesus and non-believers, toss this phrase
around haphazardly all the time. "Don't judge me," or 'only God can
judge me,’ or ‘I’m not here to judge.’ But really what it comes down to is that
none are without judgment and everyone wishes to not be judged without the
accountability for themselves. It would
be great if we could judge freely knowing we aren't being judged in return, but
this just isn't so. There has to be some
order right?
So what is judgement exactly? Let us just start there and take a look at
the good ole dictionary.
Miriam Webster Dictionary: "A formal utterance of an
authoritative opinion."
Okay so we all would love to think
we have some sort of authority, and to some degree we do. We all in our own sphere of influences have
some sort of authority in certain contexts, however this does not mean that our
judgments are sound nor are they the standard to judge all by.
I think we can all agree that in
order to have a well working society and world, that there needs to be some
standard. A certain place to look to in
order to understand right from wrong and help others in making good
decisions. I know I went all global
sized on this whole topic but I feel like that is where this topic will
naturally lead. Judgment, without a
doubt is kind of a human thing. We are
all going to do it at some point, just depends how many times we do in a day
right? ;)
At some point in life, God will
judge us. The bible says in multiple
verses and books, that this will happen.
It also states that the degree and way in which you judge others is the
way God will judge you. (Makes me think
twice about judging-which I guess is sort of the point.) God will judge us for how we have lived our
lives here on this earth that he created.
The only one worthy of complete human judgment is Christ because he is
divine and absolutely sinless. Those
without sin are able to fully judge, and in all human history there has only
been one perfect person: JESUS.
So when we look at judgment from a
biblical stand point, there are areas as believers we are able to judge. We are not to judge people, but actions and
emotions. We have God, the complete authority,
and the bible to look to for the ultimate rule and authority in order to make a
judgment call on another person’s life. All
of this of course is done from love.
There should be no contentious way inside of us while ‘calling someone
out.’ Judging actions is a lot different
than judging a person. Judging someone’s
actions and emotions must coincide with context always. When we are calling someone out we must
first:
Ask if the person even cares what you have to
say (degree of relationship)
Ask if you are doing the same thing
the judgment is about (No hypocrisy)
Ask if you are calling them out
from a place of love and concern. (Intentions/motives)
I believe at some point, different points in life, daily
even, we need wisdom, guidance and some place other than our skewed limited
perspective for help. We need outside
wisdom in areas where conflict arise or problems occur. I believe in trying to seek truth in all
areas of life for the present and future.
Looking to absolute truth and authority makes the most sense to me. God himself is without sin; absolutely perfect.
Why wouldn’t we look to Him for our daily
wisdom?
