Loading... Matthew 7:1 - JUDGE NOT
Saturday, August 8th, 2009Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
It is real easy to compare yourself with others. It is real easy to look at those around you and say that you are better than them. It is real easy to look at some public figure that is dead and proclaim that because of how they acted, they are not a Christian and are thus going to hell.
You are not God and God is the ultimate judge. God is going to judge every person for every word, action, and thought. You have heard that you are to do to others as you want them to do unto you. Do you like it when others judge you and try to guess what your attitudes are for what you did? Do you like it when others claim that you did something for a selfish motive when you know that you had no such motive? You do not like being judged by others; why do you think you have the right to judge others when you do not want them to judge you?
After David had committed adultery with Bath-sheba and then killed her husband Uriah, Nathan came and told David a story. David listened to this story how a rich man had a guest come to his house and rather than kill one of his many sheep to feed his guest, he chose instead to kill the only beloved sheep of his neighbor. David was so upset that this man would do this that he ordered that the rich man pay the poor man four times. David rendered judgment and then Nathan told David that he was the man.
David pronounced his own judgment. David had taken the life of an innocent man. David had proclaimed that the guilty man would pay four times. David ended up losing four sons to an untimely death. David loss the son that was conceived by adultery, he loss Amnon who committed rape on his half-sister Tamar, he loss Absalom who sought revenge and killed Amnon, and he loss Adonijah who tried to take the throne away from Solomon by marrying Abishag, David’s concubine.
Christ commands us not to judge others. It is an easy command to listen to and it is easy to quote. However, it is much harder to put into practice into our life. We are naturally judgmental and we like to point figures at others when they make mistakes because inwardly it helps us look better in our own eyes. We can justify many of our actions simply by taking the offensive and judging those around us.
The idea to judge others is usually pretty quick to enter into our minds. In order to combat our natural tendency to judge others, we need to take control over our minds. We need to fill our mind with thoughts that are glorifying to God. In order to control our minds, we need to add temperance to our lives. Every time we are tempted to judge others, we need to pray for the one who we wish to judge and ask God to bless them and keep them and reveal himself to them in a new and exciting way.
Earlier in David’s life, he had the opportunity to judge Saul and kill him. However, David chose instead to allow God to judge Saul and extended great kindness to Saul who desired to kill him. It would have been easy for David to say that Saul was trying to kill him and thus he had the right to defend himself and kill Saul. However, this was not God’s will nor was it HIS timing.
It I harder to refrain from judging others than it is to judge them. You must exercise self-control and take control over your mind in order to obey the commands of Christ. You will never be all that you can be for God until you learn to obey HIS higher calling for your life.