Judging

Within the last few days I received a call from someone in tears and they said that I was the only person they knew to call that wouldn't judge them. It wasn't always that way. So it got me to thinking about what God has taught me and about judgment in general.


Nicodemus asked the Pharisees, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” They were judging Jesus. They, who should have been the first to recognize Him, judged Him. He had not sinned, but what about those of us who have? Do we judge people or the sin? Sin is NEVER right. But to bring a person back into the fold an understanding of what was going on in their lives can be a big help. We are told to restore the sinner. Condemnation does not bring restoration. If we have honestly looked at our own sin and how much it grieved Father and what it cost Him and Jesus to bring us to restoration who are we to judge any one?

Galatians says, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

I use to Judge, oh what a self-righteous pharisee I was. Thank you Lord, for forgiveness. Thankfully we came across a teaching that basically showed how God felt about it. The verses for the teaching were “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you”. The teacher showed how when someone has repented the sin he/she is washed by the Blood of the Lamb and the sin is put into God's sea of forgetfulness. So, if we continue to judge or bring it back up God only sees our finger prints on it so we get judged with that sin. (I can't help but wonder how harsh that judgment is. Is it as harsh as we were to the other sinner?) That was a major wakeup call. God is so good and so gracious to us. That awakening came so gently and lovingly with the call for me to repent and recognize in a deeper way what He'd done for me.

I am not perfected yet but I can Praise God because I'm not where I use to be nor where I will be but I am where and who I am now by His Grace and He loves me!