Judgmental Thoughts

Of course those who sin prolifically are those who most often say "Judge not, lest ye be judged"! They even quote it in the King James English! It's more official that way! However, the most ignorant just scream out "Don't judge me!".

We are not to judge harshly of course, but to witness to sinners, we are to "judge" (have the opinion) that they are indeed living in sin. Of course we leave it to God to save or condemn, but it's our obligation to tell those who we perceive to be unsaved sinners, that there is a better way; a Way with hope!

Given that, Christians do judge and sometimes we do too harshly. Of course if we use the same scale with them as we do ourselves, that's understandable:

Matthew 7:1 " Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

Here is how I judge me! This is the strong opinion I have of myself and it is condemning at times because I deserve it!

I've often said (about me and many other Christians) that "if a person could read my mind, they would scream!"  I'm not proud of the things which run through my mind. I don't put them in there, but Satan does. He plants horrible seeds mixed in with the righteous vines so that those fruit-bearing vines might get choked out.

John 1:6 "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."

This is the parable of the vine! The one which doesn't bear spiritual fruit gets burned in the fire. Those horrible seeds planted in there by Satan, if they don't get weeded by doses of holiness, destroy the fruit thereon. That's why Satan plants ugliness where beauty should dwell.

I would like to say that there is no evil in  my thoughts. There is. Most of it is temptation. Being tempted is not a sin. However, it can rob a Christian of joy if those seeds are allowed to mingle with our fruit-bearing vine. For instance I stole things when I was younger. I'm not proud of that, but at times Satan puts a seed in there "Steal it! You've done that before!". This temptation brings up thoughts of my past. I have two choices: I can look forward to my hope or 2) I could look back with fond memories. The latter is what Lot's wife did:

Genesis 19:26 "But his (Lot's) wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."

I had thought God most unfair that he ended the life of a person for looking back at the fire and brimstone. Almost anybody would, right? God commanded that no one look back, but she did it anyway. It wasn't to see the explosions, but to remember the pleasant memories of sins which were rampant there. Lot's wife was already missing the sin which God had just saved her from! Her vine withered to such an extent that she turned to salt!

Now we have established that I battle with evil, as do all people. It's something that I don't have to do by myself because God offers protective armor (Ephesians 6:11).  With that said, I'm in no position to judge others, yet I do! It's human nature, but is a dangerous thing to do. If it wasn't for my born-again experience all these mind things would be held against me. Imagine if you will, me standing in front of God, judging others harshly! God would say "You like your scales so much let's use the same one for you!" Just as David did with Nathan, I would condemn myself! (2 Samuel 12:7; worth reading this chapter!).

As a young Christian I found it easy to quit the outward sins. I no longer had a problem with cursing, filthiness, drunkenness, rebellion against authority, carousing, etc. My problem then and has always been the inability to love others as they should be loved! In other words, my mouth does right, but my heart does wrong. My lips seldom speak evil, but my heart is engulfed at times with wrong UNLESS I keep that whole armor of God off the hangar and on my body!

Because of my own strengths and weaknesses, I judge others according to my own scales. I am quick to judge others by their behaviors. Their hearts may be more pure than mine, but I look at what I see. I can't see their most inner thoughts and emotions, so I judge them by what meets the eye and what I hear.

Yes, I admit it! I judge others unfairly many times by what my senses can detect. If I hear cursing and see drunkenness, my OPINION is that the heart is not right. Others may look at me and say "He doesn't curse or drink. Surely his heart belongs to God!" We are not always the book about the cover. I struggle! It's hard to put the righteous cover on the holy book. Not only do I struggle, but most likely you do too!

Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

My thinking all my life is that sin is wrong, but temptation isn't sin. That's right thinking and wrong at the same time. If we ponder what Satan uses to tempt, we are flirting  with sin. That's our weak flesh. In that case, flirtation with temptation will surely become sin. It's analogous to standing on a precipice in a strong wind. I may stand firm, but again, I may fall over! It's flirting with what Satan has to offer to stand where a Christian mustn't stand!

In the case of flirtation with sin, it may turn into full blown sin:

 James 1:14 "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

Sin, then, is a process which can kill! The first step in the process is allowing oneself to be tempted. That's the part we fail to realize! Even Jesus was tempted, and he allowed himself to be so! However, Jesus knew that he would not be "drawn way of his own lust". Are you sure that you won't be? Lust is the activity of allowing oneself to bask in temptation by imagining the pleasures forthcoming. The act may never be consummated, but the desire may still be there!

We ALL  wallow in temptation. It's original sin. It's what Adam did. Men will always do that. However, we don;t have to! We can chose not to. Given the fact that I, as you do,  succumb to temptation at times, I stood there the other night and judged fellow Christians harshly for what I was seeing, using a different measure than I use for myself!

Matthew 7:5 "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

In short, I did an idiot thing!  I condemned myself by being a harsh judge. My judging was mild. My accusation was that their witness wasn't strong, but I was standing in the mud myself. At times my witness is not strong! My flesh is weak and so yours can be as well. We need to be careful that we don't do what David did! David repented (Psalm 51). That should be our sorrow and repentance as well!