Thursday, March 17, 2011

Judger Judger

1 "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. 3Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4Or 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? 5You 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.

Matthew 7: 1–5

Judging people is part of our nature. Judging people allows us to compare ourselves to others. Usually when we are the judge, it is easy to put ourselves on top and find something that the “defendant” does worse than us. We have all judged on looks, possessions, and accomplishments (am I missing anything?). For Christians, we also tend to judge others based on how moral they appear to be in a certain area. All these things are dangerous and they cause us to stress out about how we stack up against others. Once we let go of judging others on these concerns, they actually become less of a concern in our life because that concern is not on our mind as often. “Don’t think about pink elephants! What are you thinking about?”

Christians have to be some of the worst judgers. Since we have a set of moral rules, it is easy for us to point out when someone is not following them. Most of us have been brought up on unwritten rules that Christians are suppose to follow. There may be certain ways that Christians are suppose to dress or certain ways Christians are suppose to act. When a Christian doesn’t act that way, we judge them.

I recently discovered a really great virtue that somehow I felt qualified to judge. I judge other Christian’s sincerity. When I realized what I was doing I sat down and thought about it for a while. I am taking about judging what some Christian says or does. My mental response is “No you aren’t really feeling that way.” Or “No, you don’t really mean that.”

Why do I judge this way? Two reasons

1. 1. I am not feeling the same way. How can you worship God with that sincerity when I don’t feel the same desire to worship God like that?…

2. 2. I have been insincere before. I have gone in front of people and said something (that I felt was true at the time) and then gone back on my word a few weeks later.

WOW! How dare I? How arrogant of me? How can I say that if I am not feeling something, then no one can? Am I the only one in the room with discernment of spirits? Does God have to run everything through me? Am I God, that I can judge other people’s sincerity towards God? I am putting myself up there with Him, the Judge. At least with teaching, I am expected to judge my students on performance. With Christianity, what authority do I have to be able to say, “You don’t mean what you are saying (or acting)?”

God really convicted me in this area.

2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Matthew 7:2

I am going to be judged the same way that I judge others? Do I want to be judged on my sincerity? N… O… !... !... !....

I much rather prefer that my ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and my ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Matthew 5:37.

I am sure that it goes both ways and I have been judged by other people the same way that I have judged others. Even those times when I ended up being insincere, I still should not be judged by my brother. That is not his role (or my role) but it is God's alone. He KNOWS our hearts better than we know our hearts.

What can I do to stop judging this way?

The questions shouldn’t be what I can do to stop judging this way but how God can create in me a new mindset in which to think about my brothers and sisters. This is a hard concept for me to believe and go through with. I want to do something and I want to fix this judgmental spirit of mine. I know once God creates something new spirit in me I can stop focusing on my fellow Christian’s insincerity and start focusing on helping them to follow through.