The Ten-Day Word FastНамуна

Judgments

There are a small number of crucial issues in the Christian life foundational to walking in peace and fruitfulness before the Lord and with people. Rightsizing words of judgment are near the top of the list. This issue affects almost every area of our lives: friendships, marriage, children, work, and ministry. Understanding this key issue can be the difference between being a fruitful disciple of Jesus or a defeated spectator of the Christian faith. This issue encapsulates the fullness of Jesus’s teachings in Luke 6:27-38 that we receive back more than we give to others, good and bad.

What does it really mean to judge someone?

Here are the two ways we judge others: when you see someone’s actions and you make an estimate as to the value or worth of that person, or when you think you know why he did what he did.

Here’s an example. The pastor races by you on his way to do something at church. He doesn’t catch a hello or greeting sent to him as he whizzes by. What is your immediate response? Are you gracious or do you respond with a judgment that draws a conclusion about how insensitive and unfriendly he is? Do you compound it further with gossip by mentioning to someone else how unfriendly your pastor was today?

What audacity to think that we know what is on someone’s mind. There is one judge, and He is altogether righteous and able to see into the hearts of men and women. We are not that judge; Christ is.

When you judge others, you are in deception. The problem with deception is, you don’t realize you’re being deceived. You think the sky is red, but everyone around you knows the sky is blue. You would swear on your life the sky is red; it isn’t. Could there be a minute possibility, an outside chance existing in your wildest imagination, that there may be a tiny prospect you are wrong? When you are in deception, you answer that question with a vehement no.

When we think we know a person’s motivation for saying or doing something, or we ascribe to a person’s worth, we are judging—we are playing God—we are deceived. Of the multitude of circumstances in life we can find ourselves in, this is the one not to be found in: playing God in people’s lives and judging them.