Are YOU the JUDGE?
For: God’s Church
As a child standing at the back fence with my mother as she was talking to our next-door neighbor, Mrs. Andrews, I listened as they discussed what had happened the day before to Mrs. Summers. She had fallen on her back steps and had broken her right arm. Mrs. Andrews, who did not like Mrs. Summers, made a derogatory remark about the incident. About a week later Mrs. Andrews fell on her back steps and broke her right arm. I asked my mother about the significance of what had happened and the words spoken. Mama quoted what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-2, “Do not judge lest you be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” WOW!
Looking back in my life, I understand that my tongue has gotten me into a lot of trouble. The word of God talks about the tongue being like a rudder on a ship (James 3:1-12) and can change the course of your life! If you give love what will you get back? You say love, but what if you give hate? The same fruit will come back to you!
We prayed with a lady who was always connected to selfish people, in all her relationships, selfishness was a pet peeve with her. In frustration she said, “why am I always connected to such selfish people?” Years ago, she had judged her grandmother for being so selfish. Then she became like a magnet to the thing she hated and judged in her grandmother. Her tongue had parked her ship in many harbors of hurt and disappointment.
Yet the word of God tells us to judge righteous things, to be a good fruit inspector of right and wrong in God’s eyes, but our problem is we pass sentence and judge in our heart. “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and those defile the man.” (Matthew 15:18) In Luke 19:45 Jesus entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling and said to them “And my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a robbers den.” He judged what
was right and wrong as we are to do, but what is the condition of our hearts? Lets look at the condition of our Lords’ heart, before he entered the city, he wept over it (Luke 19:41).
So when we judge right and wrong are we weeping over them with a heart that is broken, feeling sorry for the situation they are in? Knowing, except for the grace of God, I could be in the same place, captured by the same sin also knowing if I pass sentence I will be there one day. Paul in his letter to the Romans (2:1) said, “Therefore you are without excuse every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
When we have fault in our own lives we tend to look for that same fault in others. We can become very critical in that area and as we judge we are judged and the same situation happens over and over. The names change, the location changes, but the hurt stays and gets worse over time, anger and frustration builds until we catch ourselves doing the same sins we have judged in others then we can hear the words of Paul ringing in our ears “for you who judge practice the same things!”
A good friend of mine had a baby, but never got a bill from their doctor, he called and they said, it is coming. After a period of time they received a notice from a collection agency. So he called the doctor’s office and thought he had it resolved. After another couple of months, he received another notice from the same collection agency. In frustration he called the doctors office again and the bookkeeper said, sir we have been sending the bill, you just have not been paying them! My friend really became angry, and come to find out they had been sending the bill to the wrong address. What made him so mad was being falsely accused. Later we were working together and he asked “why was I so mad?” My friend is a man who is really searching his heart and has grown mightily in Christ in just a few short years, so in the natural we say, he should be mad, but he knows his heart was not right when he asked “why was I so mad?” I said, I do not know but lets ask the Lord. So we prayed and asked the Lord what is wrong? Immediately he remembered as a child, a little girl accused him of stealing her bicycle. Her father came to his house and railed on my friend, falsely accusing him. The little girl stood behind her father smiling at him, he said that picture in my mind and my hate for her at that time is so real. For years I have been falsely accused many times. He choose to forgive her and repent of his judgments of her and for weeks he would remember an incident that happened to him, he would forgive and repent until he broke the patterns and pulled up those roots from his heart.
Our judgments follow us in everyday life to restaurants, to work, our homes even in our driving habits, we judge so much it becomes a habit and part of who we are, we may have many
Godly characteristics, and be totally committed to Jesus, such as my Pastor. My Pastor would go to a local drive-in restaurant and every time right in the middle of giving his order on the loud speaker, he would get interrupted and they would get his order wrong every time. He had been teaching about judging and realized when he got his order he would grumble to himself and say, “those stupid people, can’t they hear, where do they get their employees?” He would judge those people and predict the outcome on his next trip there. He prayed Lord, I have judged these people, and I repent right now! Now he can give his order and they will listen and get his order right. Now if you go and get your order wrong, no big deal, but when it is a pattern and it happens over and over again, look at your heart and your words!
One of my sons has always been industrious, even as a young teenager. I bought him a lawn mower, so he could earn money. By the time he got out of high school, he went full time in lawn care and landscaping. Against my advice, he bought another business, being young, inexperienced and trusting and without a proper contract he was beat out of approximately $60,000.00. So he took the guy to court and lost. Then because of the hardships it caused on him, he judged the guy. He would drive by the guy’s house and anger would rise up and for seven years he would do work and never get paid in full or on time. Thus, he could not pay his suppliers on time or in full. One day in 2004, he drove by his house and he chose to forgive the guy who caused him so much pain and repented of his judgments. When he chose to forgive, repented and had a change of heart, my son was released. (John 20:23) Now three years later he is successful and very prosperous in his business.
What is your pet peeve or that incident that really bothers you? Put an “X” next to the following hurts that you have experienced and let the Holy Spirit expose those disappointments and those wounds and scars, even the hidden ones, that hide behind fear.
¨ The Pain of Rejection, this is often the experience when parents get divorced or the father is a workaholic or parents favor one child over another and often speak, why can’t you be like your brother or sister? We catch ourselves lusting for approval, striving to please others and can’t measure up. So we end up not liking ourselves and develop a harsh attitude with very sensitive feelings and when we sense disapproval from someone, we will quickly reject out of fear of being rejected.
¨ Being Falsely Accused stirs up strong indignation and a desire for justice to be done to the accuser.
¨ The Pain of being ridiculed or mocked. Ridicule does not just attack a person’s actions, it mocks him as a person and is a devastating blow to his self-esteem. Especially as a child, like being overweight, to tall, too short, big ears or nose, etc.
¨ Irritability, a build up of inward tension (saying it does not bother you, but in side you are boiling) in situations and circumstances that are pressure points or pet peeves and rooted in past judgment. A lot of times we are irritated by people or even God and never say anything because it is not supposed to be that way, still does not change the way we feel inside. Harboring it in your heart is worse than not saying what you “really” want to.
These sins can go for generations in families and keep repeating it over and over. This one woman we prayed for, we counted five generations with a separation and a distance between the girls and their brothers, sometimes perceived and sometimes real. It started with great grandmother who had a brother who treated her mean and there was enmity between them, but it kept on going for generations. Why? When we judge our parents, it releases their sins into our life. In John 20:23 Jesus said: “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” When you forgive you release the sin, if you don’t forgive you retain the sin. This is not only authority given to the disciples, but a biblical principle, as by your standard of measure it is measured to you and to your children as they judge you. (Deuteronomy 5:9) The best thing you can do for your children is to repent of all of your judgments!
We prayed with a lady, who had an alcoholic father, she had three brothers. She and one brother were not alcoholics but her other two brothers were bad alcoholics. I asked her the question, “How was your relationship with your dad?” She said; it was good, I looked over his weaknesses. I asked what about the one brother who was not an alcoholic? She said; his relationship was the same as mine. I then asked, what about the two who were bad alcoholics? She said, they hated my dad! So you can see the sin and how it was passed on to those that have judged, but skipped those that did not judge!
Now lets look at our family and ourselves. I have made a partial list of sins that divide families, I am sure you can add to it. Search your heart as you go over this list and put an “X” by the ones you and your family are guilty of:
