You Be the Judge

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”  Romans 2:1

 

Were more convicting words ever written?  How many among us can truly say that we never pass judgment on others?  We even come up with ways to justify our assessments or our right to judge them.  But do we have that right?  Really?

According to today’s passage, the answer is an emphatic “no!” We do not have that right.  Because as the passage states, we who judge are guilty of the same things for which we judge another.  I can hear you saying right now (or is it me talking to myself?!), but they are selfish, arrogant and mean.  I would never do anything so rotten to someone else!  And yet, out there somewhere, are the people who have said such things about us and our words.

At times, it has been comical to me when people I know pass judgment on someone in an area, and yet they are even guiltier of it than the one they are accusing.  As my grandmother would say, “That’s the pot calling the kettle black.” 

I think sometimes we actually judge people more harshly in an area that we know we are weak in.  Perhaps, that is because we resent having to deal with that area so much in our own lives that we cannot tolerate anyone who is not dealing with it like we are.

Either way, God’s challenge to you and me today is to turn our focus inward instead.  Let us examine ourselves and repent and change. At the end of the day, the only person’s behavior we can truly change is our own. 

Dear Lord, forgive me for being guilty of judging. Lord, help me instead to inspect myself.  Help me, O God, to walk in mercy that I may receive mercy.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

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