July 3:
Judging Others
Recently, while leading a group of
businessmen in a Bible study, I had the uncomfortable feeling
that I was being scrutinized… and judged, as several of the men
projected a supercilious manner in icily quizzing me:
"With what group are you affiliated ? What
is your educational background? What is your theological
position on such and such… ?" etc. etc.
In reflecting back on that encounter I am
reminded of Paul's admonition:
"Why do you judge your brother? Or why do
you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before
God's judgment seat?" (Romans 14:10)
Here, "judging" conveys a censorious
attitude toward others without first possessing the facts. That
is not to suggest that we should avoid the practice of carefully
looking for the evidence of godliness in professing believers'
lives: "By their fruit you will recognize them." (Matthew
7:15-20)
The Scriptures inform us that judgmental
people:
Tend to be blindly self-righteous:
King David, for example, piously condemned
the man in Nathan the Prophet's story who had stolen another
man's lone sheep, while he himself had stolen Uriah's wife,
Bathsheba:
David burned with anger against the man and
said to Nathan, 'As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did
this deserves to die!' (2 Samuel 12:1-10) (Also Romans 2:1-4;
John 8:1-11)
Tend to be harder on others than they are on
themselves:
Christ admonished us, "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 7:3)
Await God's judgment:
"When you, a mere man, pass judgment on
them… do you think you will escape God's judgment?" (Romans 2:3)
Isn't it Christ's way to accept people by
assuming the best of them until they give us good reason to
believe otherwise? After all, "love looks for a way of being
constructive." (1 Corinthians 13:4 J. B. Phillips)
Certainly this is how Jesus treated Peter
the day they met. Christ, knowing full-well of Peter's future
instability, gave him a name that conveyed strength and
solidity: "Thou shalt be called Cephas… a stone." (John 1:42b).
Facts of the Matter: Daily
Devotionals.
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