Four Things You Forget While Judging Others Wrongly

Admit it.

We all have had moments when we’ve found somebody- friend, spouse, boss- doing something wrong. Ah, what peace and joy to have found Jesus someone worse than ourselves.

We totally relish judging them.

The brother in Christ who thinks he knows all about the Bible, but he actually doesn’t.
The new girl at church who quotes one verse too many, but she seems proud.
That husband who hardly helps at home.
The girl with the inappropriate skirt.
The parents with those wild kids.
Those late-comers.

We do it on Facebook, while on Instagram and Pinterest. While reading the news. while talking with our own family and with spiritual family.

Sometimes, we get that nagging feeling that such thoughts are wrong, but we tell ourselves- these are just observations, right?

Forgiveness, Forgetful rebels, judging others, judge right, Jesus judged rightly, offer hope in sin, calvary, gethsemane

Actually, we wanna berate them. We wanna yell at them, put them to shame.

We secretly wanna slam them with angry words.

Who exactly do they think they are, sheesh!

We judge different kinds of people and put them down in different ways- be it in thought or in words. If you’re a Christian, we know there is a right kind of judgment and then there are wrong ones. Here are four things you definitely forget while judging people wrongly.

1. You forget to offer hope.
If hope was a cricket ball that belonged to someone else, you just whacked it out of the stadium and into a big pond. We Christians live by enduring, eternal hope that Jesus offered us(1 John 3:2,3) in a corrupted world. Could this same hope have been shared with the person you just judged today?

The Son of God forgave characters who had been shamed beyond recognition, but He didn’t stop there. He offered them true hope for change. Do you offer God’s promises to those you judge? Why not?

When you observe moral failure, do you gently come to the person and let them know you are available for prayer, and to offer help (Gal. 6:1,2)?

Or is your heart merrily judging what you see or hear?

2. You forget to pass on God’s grace that you received.
If there’s anything Christians personally treasure the most, it is the covering hand of God that has disciplined them, yet protected them.. struck, yet healed them. That event in space and time, the very Son of God sacrificing Himself for your past, present and future sins when you deserved none of it, is more soothing than cold water poured on dry, desert-worn lips.

And yet we don’t offer this grace to the ones we despise, inside and outside the church family. We have the itching need to be the judge of others’ failures when Jesus offers them a beautiful new life they will never deserve. Sure, God, the Father disciplines His children and it hurts bad, but He does it out of LOVE (Heb. 12:5,6).

What is your motivation for discipline, for rebuking? Love?

Or prideful disgust?

3. You forget your disastrous failures.

Forgiveness, Forgetful rebels, judging others, judge right, Jesus judged rightly, offer hope in sin, calvary, gethsemane

“What failures”, you ask? If you are asking that question, I’m sorry you’re just being a liar.

Thus says the Bible – If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

When was the last time you went through the Ten commandments to check how you are doing before you judged an erring brother or sister?

Have you ever served other gods, popular gods like money and power of this world? How about being kind, being full of purity and loving your neighbour?

If you are anything like me, you have had crushing failures as a follower of Jesus. But do we remember our disasters and treat others as we would love to be treated in such harrowing situations? (Romans 2:21,22,23)

Counting other people’s sins doesn’t make you a saint. Jesus Christ does.

4. You certainly forget the good news of Jesus.

Nobody asked you to, but you stopped loving Jesus the moment you began unloving people around you.

By not loving others who are on their life-journey, you show that you would rather take a jab at someone who is down in sin than display God’s love and truth to them. By not loving our neighbours, we have shown that there are other important things in our lives than loving Jesus for the price He paid for us! We are hardened by our judgment against the good news of Jesus.

Is mine a hideous heart,
that won’t be charmed anymore?
Have I forgotten His love for me?
Calvary’s blood and Gethsemane’s tears,
Were shed for sinners such as I.

Jesus, purge me to my innermost being!
That sin would wither away under the
Desperate love you poured on me.
Oh may I every hour see,
They need the same light as I do even today!

Have you learnt to avoid judging others wrongly?

What has helped you? What has failed you? Share your experience below.

Leave a Reply to Anonymous