Just a Thought: Judgement

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement that you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 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? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your own eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? 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." (Matthew 7:1-5)

Judgement can be a touchy topic, but the Word is clear on how we ought to relate to it. Build yourself up to be a man or woman of integrity, then do the same for the believers around you—for as long as they’re willing to hear you. If they close their ears to you, or if they’re not believers, then leave their judgement to God and love them well in the meantime. What this looks like I’ll get into soon, but remember that you’re just as imperfect as the person next to you. This is where judgement should start for each of us.

Who Am I?

"For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:22b-33)

This verse is one of my favorites in the Bible, because it's one of the stronger reality checks in there. Every single one of us has missed the mark at some point, and will likely do so at another. It's something to be mindful of before we start looking around at things to judge. This isn't to say that we shouldn't have opinions; rather it's a reminder that grace should be our first response, generally speaking.

It seems to be the case that the source of harsh judgement is a lack of humility and understanding. How many of us have done things that we're ashamed of and let it come to light only to be shot down and ridiculed? How many of us have done the same but been received with grace, love, and understanding? How did the reactions we received when opening up affect us, and how do they affect us still? My aim isn't to undermine what's happened to you, but rather to remind you that you did it to Christ first—we all did it to Christ—and He forgives.

"And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, 'Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone at her.' And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus stood up an said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'" (John 8:7-11)

We ought to be mindful, when seeking to pronounce judgement on people or organizations or churches, of our own imperfect state. We should be auditing each area of our lives against the Bible, checking ourselves where we differ from its instruction and encouraging ourselves where we've seen growth. Once we've done this, we move onto who we're actually given license to judge.

What Game Are They Playing?

"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with the sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with one. For what have I to do with outsiders? Is it not those inside the Church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'" (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)

Picture this: you're a basketball player getting ready in the locker room. You put your sneakers on, you do your normal stretches, you're going through the game plan again, envisioning what success looks like today. Then you step out of the locker room onto a green court of grass, and everyone's uniform and shoes look a little different than yours; they've got little spikes on the bottom and you think, "That's a little weird." Then you notice that they're all kicking these brightly colored balls (imagine they're a bright yellow), and the "gym" looks a lot bigger and a lot more outside than you're used to. Coach tells you you're starting: great! So you get out there and it looks like both full basketball teams are out on this green court with their sleeved shirts and spiked sneakers...

I could keep going, but I'll digress for now. Imagine trying to judge a bunch of soccer players on their performance, in their own game, using the rules of basketball. That's a bit crazy, no? How much more ought we think before trying to judge people who haven't professed faith in Christ? We're comparing ways of life, mental frameworks for how to operate in this life; it simply isn't fair to judge people based on criteria that they themselves aren't subscribed to. I'll speak on conflict within the church in the next entry, but we need to correct the way we look at loving people.

What Would Jesus Do?

This question, if asked with an open and humble heart, will get you through a lot. When you profess the name of Christ, you take on a mantle, you become a representative of Jesus. This is important to be mindful of; what it means is that everything you do is a reflection of Christ (at least to those who don't know Him). How important is it, then, that we leave people with a better, more accurate image of Christ than they had before interacting with us?

Living as Jesus did takes a lot of sacrifice and it may feel frustrating at times—which makes sense, we're imperfect people trying to take after God in the flesh—but it's what's required of us (see Matthew 16:24). When we invite Christ into our lives and commit to following His lead, we commit to living humbly—that means remembering who we are in relation to God and loving people as Christ loves us, because Christ loves us. We're called to be loving and kind, not harsh and judgmental. This isn't to say that we ought to be advocates for sin or hyper-tolerant of everyone and everything; it's simply a reminder that no one's above God. There's more that I can and will get into about this; in the meantime, love well.

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others...

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:1-11)

Be blessed.

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