The fine art of judging others

Sometimes I think I would like to be a judge. I am a decisive kind of guy, so deciding innocence and guilt, right and wrong, who has to pay, it looks good to me, on paper. I’m a lawyer by trade, however, and I can tell you that the actual job of judge is something I am not cut out for. I am lacking a very important ingredient, judicial temperament.

Judicial temperament is the ability to remain impartial and to apply the law to a situation without bias or predetermined outcome. It is the ability to decide without passion.

Jesus said:

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. ² For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

³ “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴ How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” (Matt. 7:1-5, NLT via Biblegateway.com)

You have to read this passage closely in the English (forget about the Greek!) to grasp its true meaning. Let’s face it, as human beings we are constantly judging others, ourselves and situations. Maybe if we stated these principles in the positive they would make more sense. They seem like commandments, the way Jesus is being quoted, and you know how well we do on keeping commandments.

Let me give it a try: “Keep on judging others. Remember, though, you will be judged the same way. Keep on trying to fix the behavior of other people. Of course, you have a lot about your own behavior that needs fixing, it might be a good idea to start with yourself.”

I’ve heard it said recently that there is my business, your business, and God’s business. It’s really a shame that God is so ineffectual in changing people’s lives that he needs our help! I know that I often feel powerless to change my own behavior. Are you hearing me? I can’t seem to fix myself. Wishing I could do it doesn’t work. Trying real hard and exercising will power doesn’t help. Those in recovery have learned that being fixed is entirely a work of a “higher power.”

Perhaps those of us who claim to be members of Jesus’ family might just plain give up! Surrender to Jesus. Give the Holy Spirit the job of fixing us up, transforming us into the kind of people that we think we want to be. Wow, is that even possible? Can I really trust that God is powerful enough to transform me and to keep on transforming me, without my constant “whipping myself with a wet noodle” approach to life? If that is true, then I could be free to stop trying to fix and control others. I sense that there might be a real freedom there. Can you feel it? Just over the horizon is a land where I can simply rest in the hands of the one true shepherd, Jesus Christ.