A Church That Doesn’t JudgeSample

How do you do that -- quit judging? Yesterday we received a key to help others quit judging, namely be kind! Do good! Consider that behind that critical and condemning exterior lies a wounded interior -- someone who needs love and healing.

But what if you yourself want to stop judging? You can get stuck on this easily, because before you know it you’ve condemned yourself for judging. Have you done that already? Guilt and shame come forth from thinking in terms of good and evil. But we shouldn’t be at the tree of good and evil; we must be at the Tree of Life, which is Jesus. He has carried our judgement for us.

The road to learning how to cease judgements is found in our heart. In Matthew 7, Jesus gives us the metaphor of the log and the speck. We often look at this (self)judgingly or are content with a simple principle of looking inwards. But did you know there is even more (psychological) truth in this? The better you get to know yourself and know what lives in your heart, the better you’ll be able to put the situation of another into perspective. You’ll see far better what goes wrong, and you’ll have the love, mercy and compassion to help the other person and not to judge. Simply because you looked into your own heart first.

Wilkin van de Kamp once said: “The log and the speck are both made of wood, and I believe this is very true. What you despise about another is usually found in your own heart too.” But the opposite is also true: what you have overcome within yourself with His strength and healing gives you the possibility to help others struggling with the same thing. Because only then will you have those fine senses to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

So don’t start working even harder to make sure that you’re doing it right and condemning yourself if you fail. Work on your heart. Find out where there is still pain and where it came from. Find the negative messages you may have gotten from your youth. Seek help or consult the pastors if you must. But don’t keep carrying it with you, because what is in your heart will to a far greater extent dictate your life and how much fruit you do or don’t bear than you may think, no matter how good you are at hiding it and how hard you work.