Judging to do or not to do?
"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will measured back to you." Matthew 7:1-2. I have that verse more in the last few days than John 3:16. But what does it mean? We have judges that sit in court and after hearing all the evidence they will pronounce a sentence. We would hope that the judge sitting in that courtroom is honest and fair. But he looks and he makes a sound call, a judgment. In my study Bible, I have a keyword in the back, it tells me the Hebrew word for it and the Greek word for it. Here is what it says for judgement- to separate, distinguish, discriminate between good and evil, select, choose out the good. We are to look at everyone's motive and compare it to God's Word and see what is good and what is evil. We can never condemn anyone to hell as we are NOT the heart knowers but God does give us discernment, wisdom and the right to inspect the fruit that you are bearing. The fruits that you are bearing is what you say and what you do. Does what you are saying and doing align with what God has called his children to do. We, as children of God, have to do what the rest of that part of Scripture says to be aligned with God. Here is what it says: "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in you own eye? Or how can you say to your brother; Let me remove the speck from your eye; and look, a plank in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." We, ourselves, must and I will say it again MUST have our own house in order with God before we can help someone else. We also must look at OUR MOTIVES for "judging" others. Is our motive self-righteous, to make someone look bad or do we truly want to help. Do we see our brothers and sisters stumbling and God has given us discernment to help those. We have to be following Jesus. There is so much evil in the world some in plain sight others not so much, we must be calling on the Holy Spirit to show us the way and what to do to help. Jesus says in John 7:24- "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Also in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ." If we truly have the mind of Christ, He will give us discernment. He will show us what is good and what is evil. He will show which brother and sister needs help and which ones we need to shake the dust off and move on. Our judgements should first be regarding matters of truth. 1 John 4:1; "Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." We are to test and see if that person matches with Scripture. We are to love but God's word disciplines us so we can grow. It is our job to show the world. The key to understanding judging is to look at one's own heart and motives. We are to make proper judgements about right or wrong but not out of self-righteousness and pride. We are to be discerning and act appropriately on TRUTH- GOD'S TRUTH! Have a blessed day and RISE UP!!!!!!