"Judge not, that you be not judged" Matthew 7:1-6 NKJV
This is something that we all find ourselves doing from time to time. Possibly the gossip drums have reached our hearing and we have been tempted to offer our own judgement on the matter, too. Judging someone is a form of criticism. We may start off criticising a person and before too long, we have begun to judge them as well.
We need to be careful here because, when we judge somebody, we will be judged ourself. Jesus' words are quite plain about this 'For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you' v2. We cannot get away from this fact, judging is not recommended.
We know this of course; how many times have we read this scripture? We may have thought, 'I'll have to be careful here,' and for the next hour or so, we have been on our guard only to start the judging process again. Others may have skimmed over these verses hardly recognising the significance of it all. The only way to beat this is by using extreme discipline; watching what we say and refusing to consider unwholesome thoughts about someone.
It can be the same when someone gives a word of knowledge in church. As we listen, we may straightaway think of someone who it relates to. Eyeballing them, we can almost point at them and shout, 'they need to hear this, Lord,' and then wait for them to react and go to the front of the church for prayer. When they don't, we can almost hear ourselves say, 'Go on, you know this is for you.' Let me just say, the word may well be for them but, it is also for you, in fact more so. Why? Because you know you shouldn't be judging anyone. Jesus uses some very strong words about this: 'Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye' v5
Notice this, Jesus was saying that you are more at fault than the other person. He tells you to remove the plank - which is big - from your own eye, and then you'll be able to move the speck - much smaller - from your brother's eye.
If you judge someone else, you will not please God. If you criticise someone, you will also not please Him; and if you gossip about someone, He will not be pleased. You will end up being the one who will be judged. So be careful. Take an inner look at yourself and decide if you are a judge.
Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.
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