Are you judgmental? How judgmental are you? Do you only offer judgement on the most severe offenses? Or do you pronounce judgement on the smallest thing someone does that you do not agree with? Do you judge others in the same way you want to be judged?
Our culture has become very judgmental. For the smallest thing someone does there is someone else who is condemning them. We all feel it. We despise others judging us. Yet we turn around and do the same to others.
Jesus tells us not to judge others or we will be judged (Matthew 7:1). He continues by saying that we will be judged in the same way we judge others (Matthew 7:2). What if we were to spend some time meditating on His statement? Perhaps we would ask Him to fill us with the Holy Spirit and change us from the inside out. Perhaps we would begin working on ourselves to stop, or at least reduce, our judging of others.
Though Jesus uses cities in His statement today, the concept is the same. To escape our own destruction in the day of judgment, we need to repent of our judgmental attitudes. We need to go to God with a broken heart, realizing we have been disobedient, and ask for forgiveness. We need to change our behavior or face harsh judgment.
Why is this important? First, every instruction God gave in the Old Testament and Jesus gave in the New Testament is for our own good. Second, to make the world a better place, eliminating judgment over preferences is sorely needed. Third, and most important, Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it (John 3:17).
I pray we all determine to eliminate our judgmental behavior. I pray we seek God’s forgiveness for our judgmentalism. I pray each of us ask the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out. Stop being judgmental. Stop condemning others. Ask for forgiveness. Ask God to change you. Be like Jesus.
Matthew 11:20-22 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.”
Marty Pressey 