Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why do you behold the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but do not consider the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how will you say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
There are a lot of television shows nowadays which focus our attention squarely on the issue of judging, and apparently the issue has lots of curb appeal, for persons are glued to their TVs, and just cannot seem to get enough of the drama. That’s because human beings like to judge, and persons like to see justice served.
This craving for justice has actually spawned a lot of other little judges, in the home, at work, at church, at school, at board meetings, and at the gym, in so much that Planet Fitness was prompted to declare their facilities a “Judgment Free Zone”.
There are times when husbands judge their wives, and often arrive at wrong conclusions and the wives may judge their husbands, wrongfully if things don’t go as expected, or if their gut feeling guides them in one direction.
Husbands and wives should be very careful about drawing conclusions, based solely on gut feeling, for many marriages ended up on the rocks, based solely on gut feeling. Without solid, indisputable proof, we should give the other the benefit of the doubt, even when our gut feelings tug at the heart strings to the contrary.
Gut feelings, hunches, premonitions, intuition, and informed guesses, as well as humble opinions are in most cases, not facts, and as such, should be taken with a grain of salt. Humble opinions are just that, humble opinions, for the word opinion refers to a view or judgment formed about something, that is not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
Husbands and wives are often asked to work late at night, or because of some unforeseen circumstance on the job, might be delayed for several hours, thus, just because he, or she does not come home at the usual time does not suggest that there is definitely something suspicious going on.
The spouse in question might come home very late that night several hours after midnight, and because of some emergency, may not have been able to call, or say something. His, or her cellphones could also have been dead; that doesn’t mean he was doing a night shift somewhere he was not supposed to be.
Furthermore, in situations such as these one spouse may be driven to smell the other’s clothes searching for foreign perfume, or one might be driven, by gut feeling to scroll through the list of recent cell-phone calls, trying to identify some ghost of a person from never land.
Now, this is not to say that persons are to entirely dispense with gut feelings, because there are also instances where gut feelings, and premonition did turn out to be right. All we are saying is to get the undisputed facts before drawing your conclusions, because God does not judge anyone on gut feeling, but on facts and motives.
Then again, bosses sometimes judge the employees who called out sick the day after the Super Bowl, or the day after New Year’s. Even though it may look or sound fishy, the gut feeling is not based on facts and as such, must also be taken with a grain of salt. The employees could really have been sick.
Then there are little, budding judges in the form of children, who sometimes wrongfully judge parents. In many cases, animosities and bad feelings settle in the home, based on false assumptions or narratives. Parents are imperfect beings, and sometimes they’ll do things with the best of intentions, which are later impugned by the kids.
Therefore, we seem to be immersed in a judgmental world where people are drawing the wrong or right conclusions every day, and because of this, it is now necessary to address the issue of judging.
The Gospel generally tracks a different course, for in God’s courtroom, the bad actors are set free when they confess to wrongdoing and plead for help. But, for viewers down here on earth, to see the sinner go free would cause the ratings of judgmental shows to go down, for mercy is not a part of our natural grain.
Our first passage warns us against judging others, for whenever, and wherever this is done personally to another, there is almost a guarantee that the one who judges is also at fault, and in some instances, it can disqualify persons from passing judgment since doing so will present a double standard.
However, our first passage is often misinterpreted or conflated, as applying broadly to persons drawing a conclusion based on their intelligence. In most cases we are born with the ability to think intelligently, or rationally, and because of this, we tend to draw our conclusions based on circumstantial evidences.
Gut feeling and whatever information we might pick up through our five senses also play a role as well as the news media and information highways, which in our day are heavily weighted with political, ethical, and Scriptural biases. Thus, it becomes even more difficult to judge correctly.
There are a few points that should be made up front as it pertains to a better understanding of the issue of judging. As we go through various scenarios to try to get a handle on the matter, we must bear in mind that God is the only One who could judge accurately every time since He brings the motives, thoughts, or intentions, and purposes into the mix.
[1] Judging a person, as mentioned in our opening passage is different from drawing conclusions based on circumstantial evidence. Let’s take 3 scenarios.
Scenario [1] You go to the airport on January 25 and there you see a man loaded with ski equipment and gear, and he says he heading to Colorado. Now, the rational, forgone conclusion will most likely be that he is heading there to ski. That’s a conclusion based on intelligent evidence.
But it is also possible that the same man is carrying ski equipment to someone in Colorado. He could also be returning from some other vacation resort to his home town in Colorado, and therefore, even though there might be a preponderance of evidence in favor of the conclusion, you can be wrong.
Scenario [2] This one is not merely a hypothetical, it is a true to life incident because recently, there were about five police cars parked outside of our house, with officers standing outside blocking the driveway. Persons seeing this would likely conclude that there must have been some incident, or arrest, that was taking place.
Some might have been tempted to grab a camera, or an I phone to get the live footage of what was to unfold. The truth of the matter is that the cops were there just to bring a gift to our youngest son, which we greatly appreciated.
Thus, the first and second scenarios tell us that even though individuals might make rational conclusions based on their five senses, intelligent evidence, and gut feeling, they can be dead wrong. The third scenario has to do with your “Gut feeling” where your premonition, coupled together with the circumstantial evidence tugs you in one direction, to draw what you may think is a reasonable conclusion in a given situation.
Many years ago, I was doing work for a young man who had a set of grills, and tattoos. Whilst there, I would see different cars pulling up, and he would be often seen, going to a little patch of bushes, in front of his home, retrieving something, and handing it to the persons in the car. They would then drive off, as another car would pull up sometime later.
Later on, he gave me a down payment of $2500.00 in one dollar, five dollar, and ten-dollar bills. I tried hard not draw any conclusions, but my gut feelings were pulling me hard in one direction, based upon the circumstantial evidences, and thus, because we are created with intelligence, we tend to make our assessments based on what we see and feel in the gut.
But, just as it was with the first two scenarios, folks must leave some wiggle room, just in case we are wrong, for when I went to the bank to make the deposit, I saw the teller also watching me nervously as I placed a large pile of small bills on the counter, for something seemed fishy.
So, just I did with that young man, the tellers most likely had their own gut feelings to grapple with, and thus, judging by drawing conclusions continues. It is not something farfetched we are speaking about; it happens every day, for we’re intelligent beings with the ability to reason, but doing so has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Let’s read:
[Testimonies Vol. 5 pp 168] Love is unsuspecting, ever placing the most favorable construction upon the motives and acts of others.
We do pick up information from our five senses, and we draw what we reckon as reasonable conclusions, but let us always keep this caveat in mind, we could be wrong. One of the most important lessons we, as Christians must learn is to give to others the benefit of the doubt.
The fact that persons do judge doesn’t always mean it will be negative conclusions that may be drawn. In many instances persons might come to very positive conclusions, and still be off kilter. A case in point is when Samuel went to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the next king of Israel.
Him being tall and of a commanding presence made a deep, favorable impression upon the prophet, and without waiting for God’s take on the matter Samuel declared that Eliab was The Lord’s anointed. But this turned out to be a wrong conclusion, even though it was a very favorable impression made. Let’s read:
1st Samuel 16: 4 And Samuel did that which the Lord spoke, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?
5 And he said, peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.
7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord sees not as man sees, because man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
This tendency to draw conclusions based on what a person sees, or the evidences of one’s senses is one of the reasons why some marriages are in trouble, because favorable impressions are made, up front to the point where persons may neglect to do their homework, and due diligence, and just like Samuel, what might have seemed as gold initially, turned out to be iron mixed with miry clay.
Therefore, on the issue of drawing conclusions that are based on intelligence, gut feeling, circumstantial evidence, and outward appearance, it is always best for us to be humble, knowing that we can be wrong, and for this reason we should be willing to give God the last word, since He makes evaluations internally.
However, the caution against judging, given in our first passage, primarily has to do with the tendency to judge motive, which in many instances, can only be determined by God, who sees all, and knows all. There are times when mortals could make a precise determination on motive, especially when the hard evidence is coming from the horses’ mouth.
For example, Lot, in one instance had judged motive correctly, based upon what the men of Sodom said, and based upon their commensurate actions, all of which made their inner motives manifest to the eye of the beholder.
At that time, they had accused Lot of judging them, but Lot’s conclusion was actually a no brainer, since the hard evidence could not be misinterpreted. The nefarious purpose was stated, and the actions that followed, pointed to only one logical conclusion. Let’s read:
Genesis 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter.
5 And they called unto Lot and said unto him, where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, this one fellow came in to sojourn and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
However, the issue of judging one’s motive is mostly to be left up to God. When God judges, He does not use gut feeling or premonition, or humble opinions in drawing His conclusions. Instead, The Lord uses the books of record, with live footage so that upon inspection by any intelligent being, they would be able to see clearly, why God concluded the way he did.
God allows a person’s actions to demonstrate inner motives, and thus, when we read in the Bible that the books in heaven were opened, we understand it to mean hard evidences of records, together with the live footage, of both the evil and the good which persons did, or did not have the chance to do, as the case might be.
For instance, the thief on the cross who said “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom” did not have a chance to do the things that most of us as sinners are required to do, to complete the process of repentance. He wasn’t baptized, he did not keep the Sabbath, and he didn’t have a chance to return fourfold, for the things he shoplifted and stole during his entire lifetime.
Yet, God who reads the purposes and motives of the heart, gave him a free pass through the pearly gates because, by the words the thief spoke, it becomes obvious that he would’ve fulfilled all requirements if he had the opportunity to. Thus, by his own words he will be justified, while the other bandit who died next to Christ will be condemned by his words too.
William Miller, Calvin, Martin Luther, John Knox, and most of the martyrs who died during the dark ages, never kept the Sabbath, because the light of truth on the matter had not yet dawned upon their own minds. But God who sees not as man sees will usher them into life eternal because their purposes and motives were always to serve God to the very best of their knowledge and ability. Let’s read:
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
[The Great Controversy pp 481] Said the Savior, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” The secret purposes and motives appear in the unerring register; for God “will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.”
“Behold, it is written before me, ... your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord.” Every man's work passes in review before God and it is registered for faithfulness, or unfaithfulness.
Opposite each name in the books of Heaven is entered, with terrible exactness, every wrong word, every selfish act, every unfulfilled duty, and every secret sin, with every artful dissembling. Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted moments, unimproved opportunities, the influence exerted for good or for evil, with its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by the recording angel.
The 1000 years of Sabbatical rest, which ensue after Christ’s second coming, will be spent by the saints, mostly looking over and examining all the books of record for those who will be lost, and it is through this process, that God will in large part wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Heaven will be a place of great surprises, because persons who were not expected to make it will be there and some who were expected to be there will not be present. The books of record, complete with words, actions and motives will explain to the saints why and how God came to His correct conclusions, and after the thorough review, the saints will agree with Him.
Therefore, when we are cautioned not to judge, it is a caution against us drawing premature, and faulty conclusions with no evidence of motive and as such, the issues which pertain to judging are best left in God’s hands. In the meantime, we might use our intelligence, we may have our gut feelings, and we might have our humble opinions, but just remember this one thing, we can be wrong.
Let’s give to others the benefit of the doubt, and let us by the grace of God, form the habit of placing the best construction upon the motives, and actions of others because we may save ourselves from making some perilous mistakes, and this world will be made a better place, if we do.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture that will help us to steer clear of the tendency to judge motive, or external actions only, for the word of God teaches us to approach all situations, and persons in a manner that is free from those cultural biases, and foregone conclusions, which too often drive the way we form opinions. Let’s read:
James 2:2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3 And you have respect to him that wears the good clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4 Are you not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
9 But if you have respect to persons, you commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
12 So speak you, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
God Bless!