God does not tell us to “never judge,” but rather to “Judge not, lest you be judged; for in the same manner in which you judge others, you will be judged,” (Matt. 7:1-2.) that verse goes on to say that we should get the log out of our own eyes before we can deal with the speck in our brother’s eyes (verses 3-5.) It is essential to note that verse 5 says, “Then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye.” We should only judge if we expect to be judged by the same standard. Therefore we are to judge. Verse 5 clearly confirms we are to deal with the “speck in your brother’s eye,” meaning our friends’ issues too. But we are not to judge in a spirit of unkindness or condemnation. Well, God convicted me of a hidden spirit of judging others with unkindness and unfairness. Please join me as I look at a wrong spirit of judging and compare it with God’s better plan for us.
We may fall into ungodly judging if we harbor a complaining spirit. I hadn’t realized this, so I would call the very, very slow drivers “sloth,” and I’d call other drivers “nasty man” if they were reckless, getting too close to me or cutting off other drivers and scaring me. I am embarrassed to admit to these words, because I was not thinking of my fellow drivers as frail, hurting people but instead thinking of them as obstacles or hazards in my path.
The Lord convicted me of my selfishness, heartless words and thoughts. God showed me this is an unjust way of judging others. I felt so grieved, and now I am catching myself when I begin to slip into such thinking so I can stop myself from actually saying such things. God has worked on my heart for doing similar things in the past. Apparently I convinced myself that this was OK to label slow or dangerous drivers, due to their behavior. But I had crossed a line when I used those names to label them. My flesh had gotten its sinful way, and I had grieved the Heavenly Father.
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This unjust judging comes too easily to our sin nature. Our flesh sees something that may (or may not) be wrong and it deceives our minds into coming up with names or ideas that seem less judgmental. The flesh rationalizes that I did not call anyone an evil name so it was OK. But this is not the heart of God’s prohibition on judging. God des not want us to lack mercy for others. Even if I pick less harsh names for others, I am not considering the other’s person’ heart and life. Perhaps the slower driver is tired or lost.
And while no one should drive carelessly, perhaps that driver just got some bad news, and later he or she will regret driving at a time when upset feelings had impaired his (or her) driving abilities. Even if the reckless drivers are not sorry for their unsafe driving, don’t they need my prayers for God’s conviction and not my frightened name calling, even if I only say those words in the privacy of my car? I know they do.
And I don’t need to pray for drivers the instant they do something wrong that scares me. Of course I will feel normal fear when someone scares me. My fear is neither sin nor judging. It is my next reaction that must change. I can easily cry out, “Lord protect us,” when a driver scares me.
When a driver is so slow I miss a light, I can say, “Lord, help me have patience with others.” I can teach myself to look beyond my immediate desire to quickly get to my destination, and instead think about the other person’s needs. If I tell God my needs in the morning and refresh myself in his love, I will feel his comfort for my hurts, and his joy in me. I need to let God comfort me. I also need to savor the many ways he adores me. If I neglect spending that loving time with the Lord, I will be more tempted to judge unfairly.
And when I am cherishing God’s love for me, I will do better cherishing other people. Then my attitude towards them will be one of mercy, even concern. Even if I never meet the challenging drivers around me, I can still have compassion for them instead of judgment. Then I can let God judge them. When they are truly wrong, God can convict them too.
God judges me in light of my salvation in Christ. As a result, he sees the goodness of Christ in me. He does discipline me, but not in anger or fear (as I judged some drivers) but in love, to turn me in the right direction. He wants me to have that same heart for others, including poor drivers. And he can easily remind me of times when I drove too fast or did something dumb in traffic too. Surely I am not perfect. Only God is, and he is far more merciful than I was being.
God cares for all of us, and he wants to re-direct us when we are too harsh with others. I am so thankful God called me on this, especially when my flesh had convinced me I was not judging others (but I was.) The sin nature is so sneaky, and I am so thankful God directs me back to his kind heart when I stray away from it.
Thanks for joining us in today’s post. Have you ever judged someone unfairly, but your flesh tried to convince you that you were not really judging? Please let me know. May the Lord bless you this week!