“It’s easy to judge. It’s more difficult to understand. Understanding requires compassion, patience and a willingness to believe that good hearts sometimes choose poor methods. Through judging we separate. In understanding we grow.”
Doe Zantamata
We should not judge people for the choices they make, especially when we don’t know the options they had to choose from. We all have our faults. Most of the time though, instead of focusing on our own problems or the wrong doing we have committed, we look at what someone else has done and judge ourselves against them. How often do you find yourselves muttering things like: “I can’t believe what they’ve done” – “If that was me, I wouldn’t have done that” – “They have got serious issues” – “They do that, and they still call themselves a Christian” etc. We have no right to judge other people, yet we find ourselves doing it without realising. We judge the choices of others, perhaps as a self-defence mechanism to make ourselves feel better about the situations we find ourselves in. But by doing so, we are merely bringing someone else down who is equally struggling.
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye’, when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
Matthew 7:1-5
A judgemental spirit is a critical one, which contradicts the Bible teaching about building up the church. God is the only Judge. Not us. We have no right to speak against each other or critise each others actions in a way that is judgemental; not only because this is an ‘unchristian’ thing to do, but because it’s disobeying God.
“Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brother and sisters. If you criticise and judge each other, then you are criticising and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbour?”
James 4: 11-12
In John 8:1-12, we read about the story of the woman who had committed adultery. The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees wanted her to be stoned as punishment, and quite rightly as she had sinned, according to the Law at the time. However, we are not given any context here as to why she made this choice; she is being judged by her actions alone. Jesus replies, “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone” (John 8:7). Jesus is the only sinless being, and he did not condemn the women for her actions. As Christians, we aim to follow Jesus’s example and try to mimic what He would do, in our daily lives. Quite clearly here it illustrates how Jesus does not judge, so neither should we. Jesus simply loves, and so should we.
The only one qualified to throw a stone didn’t.
We should be supporting each other, through times where we are struggling or when we’ve made the wrong decisions, rather than being judgemental. Accountability comes in with the intention of grace, restoration and repentance. We should aim to understand a person and their situation and encourage them to seek better choices. Sometimes it can be hard to recognise we are being sinful, so God can place people into our lives to tell us what we are doing is wrong – or in reverse we can tell them. Such a case seen with Nathan and David in Samuel 12. As brothers and sisters of Christ it is with love that we help others to identify and confess their sins – not as a way to embarrass someone or to feel better about ourselves.
“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
James 5:16
Our challenge today is to not give in to our judgemental nature, but instead to show love and compassion to others. To fully understand a person’s situation first, to then offer the help and guidance they need. Let’s be accountable to one another, in a manner where we are comfortable to share our faults freely without the fear of being judged for them.
God Bless! 🙂
STEADFAST 