Todays Devotion......... Don’t’ judge me unless you’re perfect! I just saw a post on facebook that said, “Don’t’ judge me unless your perfect!”…I really love it when people pick out a verse in the Bible and throw it around because it sounds really good and it is exactly what they want to hear…….never mind the fact that it may be taken out of context. I picked this verse in particular because it just happens to be one of the most misused pieces of scripture in our world today. No doubt this particular scripture is one that has caused confusion with A LOT of folks. If we look closely, we are commanded on one side to not judge or we too will be judged (this is the scripture that everyone uses to make sure they can do whatever they want and no one can really say or do anything about it) Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. On the other side, however, we have scripture that rarely if ever gets thrown into the mix…. John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment Or how about this one? 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. What the heck does that mean…Didn’t we just read that we are not supposed to Judge? Why the conflicting commands? Just what in the world does this mean??? Reprove? (to criticize or correct) Rebuke? (to criticize sharply) Exhort? (to give warnings or advice : make urgent appeals) I mean…e on…..the very meaning of these words is Judgment! This is really not as hard as we make it out to be… we as Christians are accused of being “judgmental” whenever we speak out about something that is sinful or an activity that is wrong. If we even suggest that someone is doing something that may not be Biblical we hear, “Judge Not!!!!” The problem is…this is not really the meaning of Matthew 7:1. We are commanded in this verse to not Judge hypocritically. I know this because if we don’t just stop at the verse that backs up our actions and read on…… we find this….. Matthew 7:2-5 (HCSB) 2 For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. What Jesus was telling us no to do in all of these verses (not just Matthew 7:1) was to judge hypocritically. He was condemning hypocritical, self-righteous judgments of others. Having said that, John 7:24 and 2 Timothy 4:2 (just to use a couple) show us that it is our duty as a Christian to lovingly and respectfully confront anyone who is not living a life that lines up with the Word. Think of it like this….Imagine a Blind man tapping along the side walk, He has on a really nice set of headphones and he is listening to some great Christian music. The problem is he is fixin’ to walk right out into a street full of vehicles flying by….What do you do? Do you say to yourself, “Well I would say something to him but I don’t want to judge him…and besides he surely knows what he is doing”? or do you go up to him, gently lift the headphones and say, “Blind man…if you don’t turn around you are going to be badly injured or maybe even killed?” ………… If we love him, we Tell Him! Period!!! If we see someone who is heading in the wrong direction and we care the way Jesus told us to in… Luke 10:27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself Then we will take the time to do our best to point them in the right direction. This is not judging….it is Loving! And to be truthful, instead of throwing Matthew 7:1 around in an attempt to justify how we are living…we should be telling everyone we see….Hey….If you see me doing something I shouldn’t be, please….by all means….tell me….don’t let me live another minute doing what I should not be doing. As a matter of fact…we should demand it from those who love us! Bro. Marty
Posted on: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 22:41:36 +0000
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