To Judge or Not to Judge?

 To Judge or not to Judge; that is the question…

Mary Ann Wray

We hear a lot of people echoing this statement today…”Judge not lest ye be judged.” Matthew 7: 1

It is extremely important to read and study scripture in the context in which it was quoted and written.

This scripture taken out of the complete context of the rest of the text suggests we should never judge anybody or anything at all ever. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

The exact same scripture read and taken within the context of Matthew 7 quoted by Jesus Himself, is saying something completely different.

What Jesus was teaching his disciples and those of us who follow Christ today is, if we are going to judge anyone or anything, we first must take the log out of our own eye, i.e., the blind spots we have about our own sins first. If not, we will judge things according to our own self righteous standards, not God’s word.

We can’t pretend we are perfect and maintain an objective and humble  view of others faults and sins (see Galatians 6) much less not be biblically literate enough to discern truth from error.An honest and humble heart attitude, puts the act of judging in the right perspective in the fear of the Lord.

We can’t proudly say we never judge either. The fact of the matter is that every decision you and I make, even on a daily basis in  relationships as well as every day choices, are based on judgments, good and/or bad.

God, who is holy, good and righteous, has given us the  Scriptures to discern the difference between right and wrong, good and justice and oppression etc. In fact, our whole judicial system is based on law and the fact that lawbreakers need to be brought to judgment and justice. 

There are scores of scriptures about judging properly. I encourage you to do a deep dive into the topic of judging and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to judge properly. This is especially important in an age of great deception. 

“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!” 1 Cor. 6: 1-3

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” John 7: 24