When Is It Wrong To Judge Others?

“I have misjudged you.” Have you ever heard that? How about from another Christian? My question is this: Why is there judgment going on among the Body of Christ? I thought Jesus was the judge?

I feel like I have lived almost my entire life under the judgment of Christians.  There are so many things Christians have strong opinions on, causing them to judge each other.

• True Christians don’t smoke because they know their body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
• Good Christians go to church every Sunday; if you don’t, you aren’t serious about your faith
• True Christians don’t put their children in “government” (public) schools
• Serious Christians don’t do something “good” for Halloween (trying to call evil good) because they know they would be participating in the highest holy day for witches and Satanists
• Good Christians don’t drink alcohol so they won’t be a stumbling block to others
• We all know when a Christian gets involved in politics it will just corrupt them
• You can’t be a homosexual and be saved…
• You should not wear flip flops to church. They are too casual, and we need to dress our very best for God when we go to church. (Yes, I have heard someone say that.)

The list is endless. Why do we do this to each other? And then we wonder why the rest of the world would rather be in the bars than in our churches? And we judge them for that (along with their many other sins. SMH (Shake my head….)

What about gossip or jealousy? What about gluttony? What about preferring others above yourself? News flash: We are ALL sinners, working out our salvation, dying to ourselves and crucifying our flesh!

“Well, Laura, I’m not judging them. I am just looking at the fruit in their lives…” Yes, I agree, there is a difference between judgment and testing the fruit (or testing the spirits). To check out the fruit is to make a decision whether something is good or bad, which allows me to make a decision if I want it or not. But even then, I can only see what is on the outside, not on the inside. Only God can see the heart and the motive.

Which brings me to the fact that there is also a difference between judgment, and having discernment. Discernment is the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. Discernment is “the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. It is perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtain spiritual direction and understanding,” John MacArthur.

Judgment is making a verdict of condemnation that demands a sentence or a punishment; true testing of the fruit, or having discernment, does not. And too often, we pass a personal verdict of another Christian’s actions, passing a sentence of some kind on those who aren’t doing what we think they should be doing in various ways. Sometimes we are aware of what we are doing, and sometimes we aren’t.

Judgment brings heaviness.  Have you ever noticed that? As Christians, way too often we try to get people to change by heaping on guilt, manipulating, and declaring God’s judgment on someone to get them to live a “cleaned up” life.  Most people cannot hold up under the weight of others heaping on judgment and the list of “good” Christians do’s and don’ts, and many end up leaving our churches, because they just can’t measure up.

Surrender brings freedom. God’s way is love that covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). His love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8) and His mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). It is God’s goodness and kindness that brings a person to true repentance (Romans 2:4). His ways are so much more effective in truly changed lives.

Judgment changes the actions; surrender changes the heart!

When we see a large person at a buffet, our mind will almost immediately start thinking things like, “That person has no business being here. If they would stop eating like that, they would lose weight.”  But we don’t have the full story. What if that person has already lost 100 pounds, and one day a month they treat themselves, and this is that once-a-month day? They are excited about their progress, and rightly so. But in our minds, we are heaping judgment and condemnation on them, based only on the “fruit” of what we see, not on the truth of what we cannot see.

In John 12:47-48 we read, “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.” He is the judge, through His Word, when we have finished living our lives on this earth.

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells about a man who planted a crop of wheat. An enemy came along and tossed in some seeds to make weeds grow. When it was discovered, the servants asked the owner if they should pull out the weeds.  His answer? No, because it will also uproot the wheat. Leave it alone, and it will be taken care of and separated during the harvest time.

Most of us are familiar with Jesus telling us not to judge others, in Matthew 7. He also says we will be judged with the same judgment we use to judge others. Yikes!

And then there is Paul. “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls” Romans 14:4. That sounds pretty black-and-white to me.

Friendships and families have been destroyed by Christians trying to “clean up” each other’s lives, casting a verdict of guilty, when that person does not comply.

I recently met a woman who was the first one in her family to receive Jesus. Eventually, the entire family of both parents and all seven children were saved. They used to be a very close family, but when they all came to know the Lord, they started to constantly argue and bicker with each other, over what churches they were going to, what they believed the Bible says, and fighting about the things they thought others should or shouldn’t be doing. How sad is that?

We have got to realize only God has the right to judge. Judgment brings division, and we know that does not come from God.

If you find yourself in a place of judgment by others, I want to release you, so that you can find freedom in surrendering to God’s best for you. Yes, God will use Christians in your life to give you direction, and instruction. But if it comes with judgment, they have crossed a line. The Holy Spirit should be the one to convict, not Christians to condemn.

If you realize you are someone who judges others (which was the case with me, as God revealed to me that I was very heavy into judgment of others for most of my life) what can you do? Get as close to God’s love as you possibly can! The more you realize how much He loves you unconditionally, the easier it is to release your judgment of others, because you want them to experience that same incredible love.

“One of the things I’ve learned in my spiritual journey is that the closer someone gets to Jesus Christ, the less judgmental, self-righteous, harsh-toward-others, and selfish he or she will be.” Frank Viola in blog Legalism, License, Lordship and Liberty http://frankviola.org/2011/04/05/legalism-license-lordship-and-liberty/

The last thing I want to say is that we have to be careful that in our hurt of being “misjudged,” we do not judge others for judging us. I did not write this so we point our finger at someone and say, “See! You shouldn’t be judging me!”

To our own master we stand or fall.  We are to hold the mirror up to ourselves, and judge our own heart. What are my motives? Are my actions pleasing to God? Am I walking in love, and manifesting the fruit of the Spirit?

Let’s have a whole lot less judging of one another, and a whole lot more loving. Not the kind of love that looks the other way from someone’s sin, but God’s kind of love that changes the heart.

Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.