|
Our Father's Page Devotional
September 17, 2008
Being Careful of HOW We Judge
I was thinking this morning about the event in 2 Samuel 12 where the Lord sent Nathan the Prophet to David who was King at the time and shared with him a story about a man who was poor and had pretty much nothing, but he had a little ewe lamb that he raised. He fed it food from his own table and drink from his own cup. He raised it alongside his own children and he loved the little lamb as if it were a child of his own. The Bible says "as a daughter". Along came a traveler, a guest unto a rich man and the rich man rather than take from the abundance of his own flocks to prepare a meal for the traveler, took the poor man's little lamb, killed and prepared it! Hearing that, the Bible says that David's anger was kindled greatly against that man, and in verse 5-6 David says,
"As the LORD lives, the man that has done this thing shall surely die:
And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and
because he had no pity."
Nathan responded, in the first part of verse 7 "You are the man"
YIKES!
Can you imagine how David must have felt at that very moment?
How fast his heart must have been beating? How convicted he must have
felt as the Sword of truth, cut right into his heart? He just judged and
condemned himself to death!
It reminds me of the Scripture (Matthew 7:1-5) that tell us to be careful of how we judge, that the measure we use to judge will be used to judge us. Not that we are not to judge, we absolutely must judge many things, situations, sayings, philosophies, temptations as well as tempters etc., daily. Some of us may actually be in positions of making legal judgments or judgments in ministerial positions. As an officer, a judge, an attorney, a counselor, a pastor or other ministry leader as examples. You have to be able to discern good from evil. How can you abhor evil and cling to what is good as the Word tells us to, if we cannot judge what is bad from what is good? (Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. (or hypocrisy) Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.)
How can you flee sexual immorality or youthful lusts for instance if you do cannot discern, (by God's written Word), what constitutes such? So, again, Jesus never told us not to make judgments. We are warned by Christ to be careful HOW we judge, because the measure in which we use is the same measure that will be used against us.
So, let us judge righteous judgment. Jesus didn't say "Judge not" period, as in do not judge at all. That is one of the most misinterpreted understandings of the verses which usually occurs by plucking verse 1 out of its context. We are not to condemn another, but we are absolutely able and not only able, but obligated to identify sin for what it is and call sin, sin. Ephesians 5:11 says, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (or expose them).
"Live and let live", is NOT Biblical. If people live the way they want to live, according to the flesh which is at emnity with the Spirit, and do not repent and turn to Christ, the truth is that they will not live, but will die! The Lord is calling ALL to repentence.
What Jesus is really saying in a nutshell is "Judge not as a hypocrite." And to use care when we judge, to not judge carelessly and unrighteously. Because God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. So, as we go about our daily lives, whether we are dealing with members of our own household, the workplace, in the Church and body of Christ as a whole, or in the world, let us be careful as to HOW we judge. Let's make sure we are seeking the Holy Spirit's assistance, that
when we are in positions to judge a matter, that we will be found by the Lord, judging righteously. In Jesus name. Amen.
| 
Having problems with message search?
Fill out this form to ensure your group is one of the first to be migrated to the new message search system.
Offline 
Send Email