Don't Judge Lest You Be Judged

Weekday mornings my lovely bride and I read through a devotional message over breakfast. It is a great way for us to begin our day together, before God.

The devotional this morning was about how judgmental we as people can be. Everywhere we turn we are either judging others or being judged ourselves.

How could she wear that outfit in public? Why is he such a bad driver? Did she really just say that on TV?

Or that judgmental finger is pointed towards us.

Or worse, we judge ourselves!

In Matthew 7:1-2 Jesus says, "Stop judging so that you will not be judged. Otherwise, you will be judged by the same standard you use to judge others. The standards you use for others will be applied to you." (God's Word Translation)

It was a great reminder. But then the author of the devotional continued on with a challenge. Find 5 people this week who you would normally judge and offer them encouragement instead.

A hard challenge, but a good suggestion none the less. I read this with my wife, finished my breakfast, climbed into my car and headed to work.

And almost immediately I forgot the challenge. At the stop light leaving our neighborhood, the vehicle in front of me didn't go immediately after the light turned green. Trying to practice patience, I began counting, rather than immediately honking my horn.

I counted to 10 ... still no movement. Finally, the driver began to move and fortunately I was able to make it through the light.

But not before making a very judgmental, and negative, comment to my wife on the phone.

I then navigated through traffic to the gas station, and made another judgmental comment about a car that had pulled into the pumps "in the wrong direction" ...

After leaving the gas station, I continued on my drive to work. As I approached a "round about" here in Lexington, the car to my left who was already in the circle, slowed to a near stop, causing me to have to stop prior to entering the round about.

Immediately, I made another judgmental remark.

And then God convicted me ... I had just been challenged less than a half hour prior to not judge. In fact, I had been further challenged to offer encouragement in place of judgement.

Furthermore, God had then quickly presented me with three situations to live into this challenge. I've heard that for a habit to be formed, new behaviors must be acted upon immediately and frequently for 10 or more days. God was giving me this opportunity to form new habits!

And I had failed.

Fortunately for me, God doesn't hold my failures over my head, the way I do. In Him, I am forgiven. But not only am I forgiven, my sins are completely removed once I repent. I may have to endure the consequences of my actions, but the sin itself is no longer held against me by God.

So now I move forward, and with God's help will be more encouraging to others today, tomorrow, and each day ...

Not simply because I don't want to be judged harshly because I judge harshly. But more importantly, I want to be encouraging because that is what Jesus did, and I truly do want to live each day more and more like Jesus!