|
"D
|
on't judge me!" How many times have we heard this tired
line? And, while it is true that only
God has the right to actually and accurately evaluate a person's motives... and
only God has the ultimate jurisdiction to condemn or condone a man... judgment
is inevitable. You and I make judgments constantly. Even if you are the
furthest thing from being a judgmental person, you evaluate the people around
you constantly. You may choose to act in
contradiction to your "opinion" of them, but evaluating things and
people is one of the most basic of human characteristics... denying that is
just playing an ostrich routine.
Matthew 7:1 is typically taken so far out of context as to
be rendered useless. What exactly was
Jesus' point in Matthew 7:1-5? Isn't it
a sister passage to James 3:1-5? Would
God really have us all ooze around cautiously from place to place exhibiting
only tolerance and flattery for anything, everything and toward everybody,
regardless of the absurdity of obvious guilt?
Has God not deputized men to execute judgment and justice in the earth
in many contexts?
The point is that we all should be restrained, not hasty, in
passing judgment. Rushing to judgment
and taking pleasure in doing so is incredibly problematic. But judgment IS a
necessity, and we should always do it God's way. Within the scope of our own influence, we
must be willing to humbly judge when judgment is needed (John 7:24, Galatians
6:1, Romans 16:17 & I Peter 4:17).
No comments:
Post a Comment