Judge Not!

Would you ever describe yourself as judgmental? Probably not!

When are you judgmental? We are more likely to be judgmental when we begin to put confidence in our flesh! When we begin to believe we are better than others because we place value on who we are and what we have in relation to them. You know when we say, “I wouldn’t do that even if I wasn’t saved”. Or "we could never have financial issues because we have always been organized and good at handling our money". Or “we could never be in abusive relationships because we would never allow ourselves to, we are too strong”. Or “I am more serious about my Christian life because I speak in tongues and she still hasn’t”. Blah blah blah! This attitude of confidence in the flesh causes us to devalue someone else and/or the work being done in their lives because we actually believe the person who has certain issues is less than or not as good as us. SMH

Whether we want to admit it or not we have all at some point or another been judgmental. It is exactly why God takes the time to caution us about it, ““Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2)  

This is not to say that you cannot be happy with who you are and what you have accomplished but the moment we use it to conclude that we are better than others or when our desire to maintain it makes us hesitant to do God’s will we have put value in the flesh rather than in God and are destined to fall short.

I am not trying to be funny, but I can tell you that I have been in situations where I thought I would have had it together because I was ‘not that type’ of person but found myself dealing with the same missteps I was convinced I could never have made! God has a way of showing us, when we start to get prideful, how wrong we are for it by allowing us to do as we please and seeing the consequences of that attitude. The scene following that looks similar to a dejected animal that comes crawling back to its owner tail between the legs. I have had to do it one too many times and I have officially told myself that I DO NOT need another lesson because I totally get it! 

                                                    Photo by Pinterest

In order for us to keep our eyes focused on God and off ourselves or others we need to adopt the attitude that old church people have always lived by, “there go I but for the grace of God”. Translation, if it had not been for God at work on me and in me I could have been making those same mistakes or dealing with that same ‘mess’. This certainly keeps judgmental attitudes at bay. If we acknowledge that we are not in certain situations or that we are not worse than we had been a while back we uncover reason to glorify God because if we are honest it is just because of Him…don’t act like you don’t know that!

I know I am glad that God saved me and that He lives in me because I know I could easily have been a bitter, self-centered, miserable, spiteful, angry 5 foot woman. Yes, I didn’t mention all the things that I believe are awesome about myself because God’s transformational work in me has truly made me a better, nicer (smile), more optimistic person. I will leave you, if you can be honest with yourself, to consider who you might have been or what you might have done had it not been for God in you and your commitment to Him. Each day I have an expectation to become even better and nicer because God is still at work in me. 

We must recognize that we are only as powerful and wise as the measure of Christ that we have surrendered to in our lives. We can never go wrong when our confidence is in God! 

Therefore let us not think of ourselves more highly than we ought or else we will either negate or limit God’s action in our lives and never truly “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18)

Please take a moment and read Matthew 7: 1-6

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Until next time

EJ