Judging Others

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“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? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:1-5

I’m tempted to simply post these verses, and wish all a great day without further comment, for they are more than self-explanatory. We are not to pass judgment on other people, period.

Experience tells me however, that if I just leave it there, I am going to get comments. Yes sir, I’ll be told that I’m not properly dealing with sin in our midst…

Maybe that’s true… but I doubt it.

It seems to me that Jesus’ point is that we must deal with our own sin before we should be getting after our brother’s. Of course, as a community, we encourage and help each other to deal with problems, including sin; I’m all for that, but let’s be very clear: That is not the same thing as judging others!

“Judging” is what God will do on the last day; it is condemnation to “eternal perdition” and that is reserved for God alone. Quite honestly, I am delighted that judging others is so far above my pay grade.

Does that mean that we must condone sin? Of course not, it only means that we deal with the problems of others without judging the people involved. To be very clear, we cannot possibly help our brother by condemning him, but we can help him by loving him enough to guide and encourage him onto the right path.

That is love in action, not judging. Love in action requires empathy and grace along with the truth to bring about healing and redemption… and with that, I’ll wish you a blessed day.