Judging (Part 1)

I am a very judgmental person. I see things in black and white. My "gray" has been sorted and I know what goes where. As a result, I tend to judge others who either haven't sorted their "grays" out or who disagree with me. Because of this sin, I have started to read "Who Are You to Judge?" by Dave Swavely. I want to share some of his thoughts with you.

1 Corinthians 4:3-7 - But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Dave defines the sin of judging as follows: "negatively evaluating someone's conduct or spiritual state on the basis of non-biblical standards or suspected motives...to 'judge' others is to decide that they are doing wrong because they do something the Bible doesn't talk about or because you think you can guess what is in their heart."

Their are two different applications: 1. Do not judge yourself. This is clear in 1 Corinthians 4 at the end of verse 3; "In fact, I do not even judge myself...It is the Lord who judges me." Why? Because we can't even truly know the depths of our hearts. We can sin and not even know that we have. But God does know we have, so He is the perfect Judge.

2. Do not judge others. Our judgments of others and their judgments of us are very small things as the beginning of verse 3 says. The judgments don't matter because we cannot see the heart of a person. Only God's judgment counts as a perfectly accurate judgment of our actions. Why, if we aren't fit to judge ourselves, would we think we are fit to judge others anyway?

Proverbs 18:2,13,17 speak of the judgmental person who believes that he can know his own heart. I would encourage you to look up these verses to try to see if your life is similar to the man in these verses. Are you a judgmental person? Do you jump to conclusions when you see someone's actions and determine what the motives of their heart are for them? Do you assume that you know the reason for the actions made by others and yourself?

These are questions that I have to ask myself first and foremost. I know I am a judgmental person, and I pray that God would help me fight it. I will write more on what we do now, but the first steps to ridding yourself of a judgmental attitude is to acknowledge that you have one and pray to God that He would, first, forgive you, and, second, show you how to change.

Praise the Lord for His patience and grace! Help us, God, to strive for you!