Judge & Jury
Jesus didn't come for saints; He came for the sinners. He didn't come to have afternoon tea with the perfectly put together sandwich spread while hearing the latest gossip amongst the elite social climbers. He came to drive out demons, raise the dead, feed the hungry, and save the souls of the tax collectors, the adulterers, the lepers, the unwanted, the unloved, and the outcast (Luke 5:32).
The whole point of Christianity is that we are imperfect in our ways and that no matter how hard we try, we are not enough. We will never be enough. But God is. And through Jesus, we are too. We are enough in Him. Not by our good works. My women's group leader describes it as, "Jesus + nothing." It's not Jesus plus how much you attend church, or Jesus plus how successful your career is. It isn't Jesus plus how pretty you are by society's standards, or Jesus plus how many likes you have on Instagram. It isn't Jesus plus never making a mistake, or Jesus plus having your life completely figured out. It's Jesus + NOTHING.
If God the Father and Jesus love us so much, and through grace we are washed clean, then why are we so quick to judge ourselves and judge others? Why are we so quick to stand divided instead of being united? What keeps us from fully living out what Jesus describes as one of the two most important commandments of love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31)?
No one on planet Earth has been "saved" by judgment. Shaming fellow humans has never fostered healthy growth or spiritual development. Judgment is unproductive, hypocritical, divisive, and often produces the opposite effect to which we were hoping it would have. If judgment is so toxic, why is our flesh so drawn to it?
The therapist in me feels compelled to share that from an evolutionary perspective, judgment has its place. Back in the cave people days, judgment was a really important part of our development as a species. It helped us survive by delineating safe from unsafe. For example, judging the saber-tooth tiger as unsafe, would help us refrain from petting it, thus helping us to keep all of our limbs attached to our body. Judging the way an approaching new tribe of people look, could help determine if they are safe, or a threat to our family and wellbeing. Judgment to determine safety is helpful, but that's not the kind of judgment we are addressing here. Humans have a really fun way of twisting helpful things into monsters, we are so special that way!
I recently read Jesus Over Everything by Lisa Whittle, and she has an entire chapter on judgment and how it stands as a barrier to putting Jesus first. In this chapter, she lists some of the ways we use judgment that tear ourselves and our relationships with others apart. Rather than reinvent the wheel explaining the toxicity of judgment, I'm listing a few of her revelations below:
“We judge when we are afraid. Ignorance and fear are the leading reasons we judge people. We fear their sin will "rub off on us" as if there is some sort of invisible sin transfer system. We are afraid of catching their "leprosy," the very thing Jesus made a beeline to heal. We judge what we do not know, what we have not experienced, and what we do not understand.
We justify judgment with our Bible. This is the worst misuse of the Word. The most dangerous person in the world is the one who is schooled in scripture and slices people with it. The Bible sharply convicts as a sword, but it never to be used as a weapon. In human hands with a human motive, it can be deadly and detrimental to the actual Gospel. Jesus is clear on judging in Matthew 7: 1-5, yet even in that clear stance only God knows the hearts and minds of people and where we personally fall. Putting ourselves in the judge's seat reserved for God is not a wise plan. He is fully capable of the job many of us try to do on a daily basis."
Now that we've covered how unhelpful judgment can be, let's tack on a small yet powerful sidebar. While judgment is unhelpful and can be extremely damaging, I'm not telling you to go all out and forget about living in a position of repentance. Repentance has a very powerful and important position in our human experience. While we will never be perfect, we can always strive to grow and work towards a healthy lifestyle reflective of God's desire for our lives. By acknowledging our shortcomings and consistently striving towards growth and change, we are moving in a great direction. God's Grace and Jesus' sacrifice are never an excuse to live recklessly. That being said, there are plenty of barriers that can prevent us from always living in a growth mindset such as mental illness, substance use issues, environmental factors, economic status, the list goes on. When barriers to living your best repentant life show up, try reaching out to your community and/or a professional who may be able to help you tackle some of those barriers.
With that in mind, let's work on these together friends. Work towards less judgment and more love. We will never be able to love each other the way that God loves us, but Jesus sets a great example of how to love others that we can strive for. Have grace for others and yourself. Focus on your own personal growth and development instead of first picking out the faults and shortcomings of others. Like the Bible states in Mark 7:4-5, “how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” And when you catch yourself stuck in the pit of judgment, acknowledge it, take a deep breath, and let it pass. We will all continue to fall into this pit of judgment, I find myself there frequently. It’s not about how many times you fall in, but how many times you climb out. You don’t need to do anything fancy with judgment once you are aware you’re in the pit. Give it to God, let it float into space, write it down and rip it up, reframe it to a more helpful thought, or whatever it is that helps you let it go. I actually use my husband as an accountability partner. Whenever he notices me saying something judgmental and hurtful about others, he simply says, “Remember when you told me to remind you about speaking in alignment with your values?” Oof, it hurts sometimes, but nothing gets me back into line more quickly than a reminder about who God asks me to be from the man I love most on the planet. So do what works for you, everyone works a little differently, but for heaven’s sake (and for yours), let the judgment go and move forward. You’ve got this!