I decided to take a look at judging. There is something to it, I have to reluctantly admit. Profiling sets a range of parameters that guide profilers in being successful at their job. I also have to admit that from birth I’ve been an anti-profiler. We all have our rebellions – mine is belief in each individual human being as a “blank slate” to be filled in by my experience with them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure profiling as a job is quite helpful in stopping very messed up people from hurting others. But I tend to take each person at face value and let them show me who they are by my own interaction with them.
If you talk to a lot of folks who claim to be Christians, you’ll probably find a lot of judging going on. Because that’s what it’s all about, right? We know what the right way to live is and our job is to tell everyone about it . . . Except there’s not a whole lot of support for that idea in scripture. In fact, just the opposite.
People who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, well, they peg us Christians as being hypocritical – saying one thing and acting in an entirely different way. And they’re right. At least as far as the Christians I’ve known in the United States. Maybe Christians in other countries are closer to the Truth. But in America, church appears to be synonymous with “good people,” ones who dress nice, work hard and obey the law. The reality is, church is filled with believers and non-believers and it’s very difficult on the surface to determine who’s who.
Why could this even be possible? Well, one obvious culprit is our American culture. Or more specifically, that “the American way” has filtered in to our churches. The early church met in homes, studied the scriptures together and acted as a community. American churches are more business driven in their approach, with a building structure to maintain, a payroll to support and, oh, yea, scripture to preach, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the business end of the work.
I’m not JUDGING the American church . . . sorry, just had to go there, AND I can’t dismiss a whole country of churches based on the distinct evidence of many. It just doesn’t work that way – IN SCRIPTURE.
We are called not to judge or we will be judged – and by that same standard. THAT is scripture. The Pharisees judged Jesus, not because He did anything to bring shame to His Father, but because they saw in His eyes the Truth. They had sold out that Truth, which they claimed to serve, to a religious system that gave them power and money and influence. Very similar to what happens today in many churches across America.
Honestly, following scripture’s teachings is what many would consider frightening, absurd, asking for trouble . . . and those who do follow scripture’s teachings often experience this first hand FROM OTHER “CHRISTIANS” who are trying to protect the system at the expense of the Truth. Truth is scary. Truth is letting God bring to your church the people He calls and loving them unconditionally, regardless of who they are, who they appear to be, how successful they are with money, politics, business, influence, anything. THAT takes someone with a great deal of trust and belief in the Lord God they claim to serve, proving that they do indeed serve that One True God.
True leadership in the church today sees each individual as uniquely created by God and loved by God SO much that He determined to be our sacrifice for us rather than just wipe us out and start again. The real Truth in scripture is that we are called not go around judging others, but to allow the Word of the Lord God Creator to seep deeply into our souls, our psyche, our very bones and change US from the inside out. It’s not our job to change everyone else . . . it’s our job to introduce them to the One who knows them fully and can truly change them. The ONLY One who can and will judge each and every one of us rightly.
So our introduction ought to rightly reflect the Lord Jesus we claim to serve. That only happens if we let the Holy Spirit do His job through the reading of scripture and time spent in prayer, as well as helping us apply what we’ve learned to everyday life. We begin to let go of selfishness, anger and pride and cling to gentleness, kindness, humility, love, peace and joy, selflessness, self-control. (Hey! I smell fruit!)
We need to stop acting like we know everything, like it’s our job to tell everyone else in the world how to do their business and start letting God shape us into His image. When we do that we suddenly become exceptionally patient with other people; we let things go, because we love these people and want the best for them. I’ve met precious few people who’ve come far enough in their faith to exhibit these glimpses of Godliness to me. That’s sad – a very sad commentary on the community of believers in America.
But the few that I have met have encouraged me to be a better person, to spend more time with God, to read the Word more and to alter how I behave, what I decide to love and spend time with and much more – not because they have “rightly judged me” but because they obviously love me and expect good things from me. And because they treat me that way, I’m learning how to treat other people that way too.
I’m beginning (baby steps here!) to pray for people in my past who claim to be Christians, but have exhibited vastly different agendas. I’m not praying only for them, but for me to also change enough in my heart to forgive them and see them as struggling through this life just like me and hoping I will give them the grace that God Himself has given to me. We all screw up. We all make mistakes. It’s not hard to dig up dirt on most people – we’re just exceptionally imperfect and make it easy on anyone who wants to point a finger. It is really, really hard to look an imperfect man in the eye and vow to love him unconditionally as my brother in Christ, letting the Holy Spirit convict that person of whatever is really going on underneath his skin where only God can get.
If we don’t get to this point in our walk with God, we’re the guy, forgiven of a humungous debt that refuses to forgive our friend a tiny i.o.u. and throws him in jail. If we don’t stop this – WE are the ones who will end up in the eternal jail, the fiery pit, the place of the damned. THAT’s scriptural. If we don’t forgive others as the Lord has forgiven us, then He won’t forgive us. And we can’t go around judging people if we’ve forgiven them – truly forgiven them.
Don’t believe me? Check it out: Matthew 7:1-5, Leviticus 19:15, Proverbs 25:12, Proverbs 31:9, Luke 6:37, John 5:22, 23, John 7:23,24, John 8:15,16, John 12:46-48, Romans 2:1, Romans 14:10, I Corinthians 4:4,5, Hebrews 4:12, James 2:12,13, James 4:10-12. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but definitely enough to start chewing on! Have at it!
“I sum up:” (Shout out to all my Princess Bride fans!) Judging leads to being judged; forgiving leads to being forgiven; changing others comes from allowing God to change us, trusting the Holy Spirit to change them in God’s time, not ours.
“Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:7
