The Attitude of Judgment

Jesus tells his followers in Matthew 7:1-6 to take care not to presume to be the judges of others. Our tendency when faced with our sin is to ignore our faults and deflect it to others. We look at ourselves and say: "At least I am not..." or we respond to someone rebuking us with: "Yeah, well you did..." 

Rather than address our own need for God, we quickly point out the faults in others. We set up a sandy hill from which we can see the world and rain down our judgment (We'll call it Mt. Pious). The more we can look at others, the less we have to look at ourselves and say: "I need God." 

So we judge and condemn. Or belittle. Or condescend. Whatever our action, the motivation is the same. The person being judged needs us to tell them about their faults while we ignore our own. Jesus says that we cannot live this way for we will be judged by the same measure. If we truly love our brothers and sisters, then we will not approach them with pride saying: "You need to..." We will approach them with humility, having removed the plank from our own eye and seeing clearly enough to help. We can say with love and understanding "God forgives and God heals. Confess your sin to the Lord. He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from unrighteousness." 

Judging has its place in the body (see Paul's letters to the Corinthians), however we must constantly bring ourselves before God in repentance of our sin. Only from this attitude can we truly help others with their struggles. 

1. How can we effectively help our struggling brothers and sisters with the right attitude?

2. When is it appropiate to judge others according to scripture? How should it be handled?

Peace, 

Jeff Moody

jeffmoody82@gmail.com

Comments

[Laura Hicks]

Jeff,
You ask how can we effectively help our struggling brothers and sisters with the right attitude?

A light shining in the darkness will stand out. A separated people for the Lord, sanctified and pure will be noticed and point to the Father for His glory. As we let our light so shine before men, they will take notice and the Holy Spirit will convict as he promised to do of pride and judgmental, self-righteous attitudes. If others let their light so shine before me, my attitudes will change as he works the sanctification process in me. If we look at the cross, we fall to our knees in humility and see that there is none righteous no not one and we all need a Savior, so how can we judge others?

When is it appropiate to judge others according to scripture?

When we see constant sin patterns in believers, as the Spirit leads and through humility, I believe we should pray about how to go to others and gently restore them. As Christians, we have been given discerning spirits that God wants to use in us to pray for others and speak the Truth in Love. I pray that others would do that for me. In relation to non-believers, we should pray that God would give us opportunities to speak the Truth, show love and mercy and point people to Christ.

These are tough questions. Thanks for the thought-provoking dialog.

[Jeff]

You're right Laura. There has to be a healthy balance of showing and saying the right things, always with an attitude of humility. I think it helps that in any situation we face, we are trying to help people walk with Christ. At times, that requires rebuke and correction.