Much confusion and wrong teachings exist among believers and non-believers in relationship to judging and God’s judgments. This must be sorted out if we are to go on to maturity, because God’s judgments are a basic reflection of His nature and character. So also are our judgments. Therefore, we want them to be in harmony with God.
As we have covered, Jesus never said we should not judge others. It is apparent in the context of the parable in which Jesus said this that He never said not to judge. Rather, Jesus said not to try to remove the speck from another’s eye until we have gotten the log out of our own eye. So we are not to judge others until we have first dealt with our own issues in the matter. It is a truth, with many historical examples, that hypocrisy leads to the worst kind of unrighteous judgment. Therefore, we must always examine ourselves in a matter before trying to correct others.
We have covered how assuming that we know the motives of others can distort our judgment and thereby lead to unrighteous judgment. However, this does not mean we do not judge our own motives. It is important we do. So what should be our motive? Love and the redemption, reconciliation, and restoration that love always seeks. This is why I do not trust my own judgments about anyone who I may have something against unless I know I have forgiven them and truly love them. We will not be able to judge our enemies correctly unless we love them. As I have repeated a few times, this is clear in Philippians 1:9:
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in true knowledge and all discernment.
“True knowledge,” or knowledge that is true, and “all discernment” can only come when our love is “abounding.” Anything but love will distort our discernment of others. However, our love must be united with God’s love, and not just certain human sympathies that can be the result of ungodly soul ties and other bases for deception. Mere human compassion can lead to unsanctified mercy, which is giving mercy to the things God condemns. Many Christians get deceived when they follow their own human emotions or motives, instead of being united with Christ.
“God is love,” so we can be sure that all of His judgments are motivated by His love. That does not mean they are not severe at times, even when it involves condemnation or destruction. Again, some stumble when trying to understand this because they are trying to apply their definition of love instead of God’s definition. This is why understanding is required, which is “standing under”—implying that we can’t really understand someone else until we are standing in their place. Again, we must, therefore, stand under God’s place, seeing with His eyes, if we are to understand His judgments. We will discuss more thoroughly how to do this next week.
