Judge Not!

(Matthew 7:1) "Judge not, that you be not judged.

How often have I without any actual deliberate intension caught myself judging others? I must confess my mind likes to justify itself in excusing myself while accusing others, my thoughts must not hold to this pattern, and they must be stopped in their embryo. Why? Well because the word of God instructs me in caution; “for with the judgement we pronounce we will be judged, and with the measure we use it will be measured to us.” It is good to be reminded with scripture, with strong words like these, it keeps us remembering the cross and Christ’s finished work on it. It is for our benefits and will keep us humble, recollecting that “God resists the proud but give grace to the humble.”

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” No matter how I look to translate this text of scripture, when I look in the mirror I will always find room for improvement. We all will! Consider that it is in faith alone, through grace alone and not of works lest anyone should boast that has opened our eyes to see God’s plan for mankind. It is a work of God and it is His mercy that entitles us to call him Abba Father. So when we see a brother stumble we must restore such a one in love and gentleness lest we find ourselves justified in our own eyes setting ourselves up for a hard fall. Remembering always from where we have been saved. So when dealing with an issue amongst brothers in Christ we must always esteem him higher than ourselves, this is the lesson I believe the Lord wants us to grasp. (Romans 2:1) “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.”However we must not be trapped by the wiles of the devil to think that we must never judge anything. We must! What then am I permitted to judge? When I judge I must always have this mindset; “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (1Peter 1:17) And if you call on him as a Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.” (1Corinthians 2:15) “The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” In other words have your eyes peeled to spot error, opposition to God’s Word.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?”

We must look out for the wolves who dress like sheep and come to destroy the young. We must be resilient like David was when the lion and the bear came amongst the flock to kill we must lay down our lives for one another, even if it means rejection from our own. But we must expose these wolves with certainty in gentleness and in Godly fear least we become puffed up in our own imaginations. How will we recognise them? “So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

We must embrace this perfect and good gift that God has given us, salvation with the hope of eternal life. We must make it our own at all costs, we must run this race with vigour and determination, we must repent and put of sin when needed, we must rejoice always and again the Lord said “rejoice!” We must lock hands in Christ and be willing to die for one another as there is an enemy that goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Let us take a few on the chin for the sake of our brothers, so long as it keeps them looking to our wonderful Saviour and He is exalted. Remember His example, and how immaculate it was!

Let us remember then not to judge as one who is better than another, for what have we received that we can claim for ourselves? Is it not God who equips us with the armour of God, we must uses it but we never can claim it as our own in that sense, we must however make it our own but we must always bear in mind that it is God who supply’s all our needs. I will leave you with one of my own quotes that I wrote in the front of my bible some years back; “Remain humble, stay low and deep in His Word.”

Signing off

Tyrone