So my opening question to the group
was: What is the worst thing about judging other people?
We talked about this for awhile, and
agreed that judging gives you a false sense of superiority, it scares other
people away, it can become a habit which leads to a judgmental lifestyle that
turns into bitterness and cynicism, it wounds other people, and it masks our
own problems.
My next question was: What is the
best thing about judging other people?
Well, judging other people is very
fulfilling, it helps us know whether to hire someone for a job, helps us
evaluate a prospective son-in-law, gives us the ability improve other’s
behavior, lets us know how to genuinely help other people.
The Bible says many things about
judging other people; sometimes it tells us to leave all judging to God, other
times it reminds us to make our own judgments about who we follow and who we
associate with. It isn’t a simple discussion. We must engage the world around
us if we want to share the love and life and grace of God, but we can’t engage
effectively without picking-and-choosing, without passing a few judgments.
We were studying from I Corinthians
5-6, where the Apostle Paul wrote a lot about judging other people. He started
off by stating his disbelief that the church had allowed a blatantly immoral
situation to remain among their membership. He urged the church to drastic
action … to pass judgment. Paul made it clear that he had judged the situation
already, even from a distance.
I had been chewing on this question
of judging other people all week as I prepared my lesson for Sunday morning.
One day as I read from my Daily Bible, from the prophet Hosea, I realized it
spoke to the issue of judging, if only tangentially. Hosea has always been one
of the hardest books in the Bible for me to read because of what happened. The
prophet (Hosea) was told by God that he should marry Gomer, a
habitually-unfaithful prostitute, in order to communicate a message to the
people. Gomer’s adulterous life and Hosea’s continued acceptance of her would
remind the people of their own betrayal of God and his own acceptance of them.
While it was a powerful real-life illustration, it seemed like too much of a
burden for a man to bear, even a prophet of God. Surely being a prophet was
hard enough without being saddled with an intentionally bad marriage.
When I read Hosea I wondered about
my own prayers to know God’s will for my life. What if God told me he wanted me
to do something terrible just so my life could be an example for the people
around me? I didn’t want that. Maybe I didn’t want to know God’s will if that
sort of thing was a possibility.
Then I realized my mistake. I had
always put myself into the story as Hosea, wondering if God would do something
like that to me. I should have put myself into the story as Gomer, wondering if
God would heal me and take me back. I assumed I was always the faithful prophet
and never the unfaithful sinner.
And then again, while running on
Monday it occurred to me that when I asked those questions – What is the worst
thing about judging other people? What is the best thing about judging other
people? – I asked them from the perspective of being the judge, not the victim.
We assume we are the judges who know
the absolute truth, and whether we hammer people with that truth or accept them
with that truth, it is always our choice. At least, that was my personal
perspective.
But what if I am the person being
judged? How do I answer those same opening questions? Now what is the best and
worst part about judging? How arrogant it was for me to think I was always the
person in position to judge and never the person who begged “please take me in
I need healing.”
What I know now is that I have a lot
more thinking do about this topic. I just hope my own arrogance doesn’t keep
getting in the way of my understanding.
“I run in the path of Your
commands, for You have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32
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With God:” www.runningwithgodonline.com
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