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A CHRISTIAN WALK MINISTRIES Reverend Matthew & Mrs. Deborah Harper Copy righted material
JUDGING OTHERS Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you. Romans 15:7 NIV. Do not judge or you to will be judged…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? Matthew 7:1-3 NIV.
Looking at Webster’s New Dictionary we find that to judge means to form an authoritative opinion about something or someone. The key word here is authoritative. When we are judging a thing it’s not very difficult to acquire complete information about what we are judging and be in a position to truly form an authoritative opinion. However, it’s not possible for us to acquire complete about a person. We can see what is on the outside but we cannot see the spiritual part that’s on the inside. Therefore we can never be in a position to form a truly authoritative opinion by which we can judge someone.
There could be any number of reasons why a person’s outwards appearance is not up to sociable accepted standards. At one end of the spectrum they could have fallen onto hard times after being down sized from a high paying job and at the other end they could just simply be unmotivated, unwilling, physically or mentally unable to join the work force. Whatever the case outward appearances doesn’t always reflect the goodness or true worth of a person. When we see a person that appears to be on hard times we should understand that except for the grace of God there goes us. It’s because of God’s grace that we have the ability to have an income and maintain our standard of living.
Many individuals and groups of people judge others based on how they perceive themselves. These people take a phrase that was very popular a few years ago - what would Jesus do (WWJD)? – and change it to what would I do? They use themselves as the measuring rod or standard to judge others.
Problem is we all have planks in our own eyes so our lives are not good standards to use when judging others. We may not indulge in the sins of the one we are judging but we wallow in several others including the sin of judging. We also fall into the trap of deeming anything we would not do as being wrong or sinful. Many people consider it sinful to consume any alcoholic drink. This is not true. Wine is consumed in many parts of the bible. However, it is sinful to get drunk and lose control of oneself while drinking alcoholic beverages. The sin is in drinking to excess. Some people consider it a sin to play the lottery but there is no biblical foundation for this notion. There is nothing sinful about buying a lottery ticket if you have met all your financial obligations and provided for the welfare of your family. The sinful act is when a person fails to be a good steward over the blessings God has provided such as when they gamble away some of their income and fail to meet their financial obligations and provide for their families. For example, who would be the better steward over God’s provisions; a man that earns $1,000 and buys a one dollar lottery ticket each week or the man that earns the same wages and buys himself $500 of fine clothing each week while his family is without adequate food and shelter? Truth is almost anything can be done in a sinful way or to an extent that it becomes sinful. Eating, talking, sleeping, shopping are not sinful acts but they can all be done in a way and to a degree that would make them sinful.
We never know what plans God has for people that come into our lives. We some times establish values, codes of conduct and standards we accept as the benchmark for all others. Anyone not measuring up these benchmarks is judged as lacking without regards to the innate qualities of the individual. Paul, in the book of Acts, is a good example. Before his conversion Saul did terrible things to the followers of Christ. Christians would not and could not accept Paul as a fellow Christian because he wanted to kill them and destroy everything they represented. Clearly, Paul did not meet the benchmarks of a Christian. Then God called him cleansing his soul, changing his name to Paul and used him to do God’s work. No one would have ever judged Paul capable of being a disciple for Christ. We just have no way of knowing what God has in store for anyone because we are all his children and he has a plan for each of us. We must remember that God has HIS plan for our life. It’s God’s plan that will prevail not ours. Our plan might be to continue living a life of privileges but God plan may be to pt us through trials that would reduce us to homeliness so he can humble us then use us to do His work. So do not judge those that are less fortunate, just love them and help them. After all they may very well be one of God’s projects in progress. We all fall short and should not judge anyone. Only God is perfect in all he does and only he can judge his children.
Controlling the habit of judging others; When we spend our time accepting people and loving them just as Jesus accepted us, warts and all, we will not indulge in the sinful act of judging our brother. I know; I really made that sound far too simple. In reality our sinful nature drives us to look closely at anyone that looks talks or acts in a way that is the least bite unusual. Most people don’t even think of judging as a sin some even think of it as more of a duty to be sure that everyone is, you know, normal. Some people even feel it’s the right thing to do; keeping an eye out for those people that don’t fit in with the social majority, community, or work place. This is a key reason why judging others is so prevalent, a lot of people feel obligated to do it.
Some steps in controlling this demon are;
a. Recognize judging it for what it is, sin. b. Then we must accept all people for what they are – good or bad - God’s creations.
c. Understanding these things we move on to knowing God made no mistakes and all of His creations have a purpose. Therefore we must love our neighbor –but not the bad things they may do - and not stand in judgment of him.
d. It is of much greater benefit to spend your efforts in trying to understand a person than it is to spend your efforts in judging a person. When possible try talking to the person you feel tempted to judge. Communications often clarifies perceptions and fosters understanding.
e. Try putting your self in the other person’s position considering all the circumstances and imagine how you would behave. Would your behavior differ greatly from the person you are tempted to judge?
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