Go Ahead, Be Judgmental

When asked what they think about Church and Christianity, many non-Christians levy this charge, "They are so judmental!"  On the one hand, they are right.  On the other hand, the alternative to making judgments about life is paralysis and indecision.  Every choice demands a judgment.  What are we to do?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we confess that we spend too much time criticizing others and not enough time criticizing ourselves.  It's less painful for us to point out others' faults than it is to own up to our own.  Give us grace to acknowledge and confess our own sins so that we might experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom.  Then give us grace to share your joy and freedom with all others who need it!

Matthew 7: 1-5

Comments

This reminds me of the phobia we Christians often have of being "judgmental." The truth is that we are all judgmental, not in the ugly sense we often use the word, but in the sense that we must make judgments about things and people and situations everyday in order to make choices. Every decision is between good and evil, right and wrong, good and great, not good and very bad. We must measure things to see how they stack up to what God's desires are.

Where judging goes wrong is when we are comparing ourselves to others. It is a good idea to judge others next to God in order to decide whether we will follow their example or leadership. If what they propose lines up well with God's ways, then our judgment should tell us to follow them. If what they propose is off of God's ways, then our judgment should tell us not to follow. The moment we place ourselves in God's shoes and judge others as though we were God is the moment we are in real trouble for the real root of sin is idolatry, our desire to be God. That's what got us in trouble in the garden of Eden in the first place.

We don't get to decide who gets in the Kingdom of Heaven and who stays out. We don't get to decide who God loves and who doesn't (for God loves everyone and everything God has made).  We don't get to decide who can come to church and who can't. Our real job is to point people to Jesus who is the measure of all that is good and life-giving. God will do the convicting and the heart and life-changing. After all, we should be so busy yanking planks from our eyes in the grace of Jesus that we don't have time to look for the faults of others.

Prayer

Give us the guts to see ourselves for the broken, angry, greedy, hurtful people that we sometimes are.  Forgive us, we pray.  Free us for joyful obedience to you, loving Jesus!  Then use us to point people to you so that they too may be judged by you and saved by your grace!  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

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