... a weekly letter of encouragement.
25 March 1998 - Singapore
Good Morning!
JUDGING OTHERS
Recently, while leading a group of businessmen
in a Bible study, I had the uncomfortable feeling that I was being
scrutinized...and judged, as several of the men projected a
supercilious manner in icily quizzing me:
"With what group are you affiliated
? What is your educational background? What is your theological
position on such and such...?" etc.. etc..
In reflecting back on that encounter I am
reminded of Paul's admonition:
"...Why do you judge your brother?
Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand
before God's judgment seat?" (Romans
14:10)
Here, "judging" conveys a censorious
attitude toward others without first possessing the facts.
That is not to suggest that we should avoid the practice
of carefully looking for the evidence of godliness in professing
believers' lives: "...By their fruit you will recognize
them." (Matthew 7:15-20)
The Scriptures inform us that judgmental
people:
- Tend to be blindly self-righteous:
King David, for example, piously condemned
the man in Nathan the Prophet's story who had stolen another man's
lone sheep, while he himself had stolen Uriah's wife, Bathsheba:
"David
burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, 'As surely
as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!.'"
(2 Samuel 12:1-10)
(Also Rom. 2:1-4; Jn. 8:1 - 11)
- Tend to be harder on others than they are on themselves:
Christ admonished us, "Why do
you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay
no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew
7:3)
- Await God's judgment:
"...When you, a mere man, pass
judgment on them...do you think you will escape God's judgment?"
(Romans 2:3)
Isn't it Christ's way to accept people
by assuming the best of them until
they give us good reason to believe otherwise? After all, "love
looks for a way of being constructive."
(I Corinthians 13:4. J. B. Phillips)
Certainly this is how Jesus treated Peter
the day they met. Christ, knowing full-well of Peter's future
instability, gave him a name that conveyed strength and solidity:
"Thou shalt be called Cephas...a stone."
(John. 1:42b)
My prayer is that you are having a great week!
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Phone: 337 6498; Fax: 336 9913
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