grace given me

In my home we are a little obsessed with legal shows right now. Any other fans of Suits or Lincoln Lawyer out there? I admire how hard Harvey, Mike, and Mickey (the main lawyer characters) fight for their clients. They fight for them regardless of whether they are guilty or innocent, worthy or unworthy. They come alongside their clients, advising, representing, defending and negotiating on their behalf. They are not in the business of judging. I, on the other hand, find myself judging their clients – “they so did it.”

These are just TV shows but in daily life, I often catch myself judging others. What that co-worker wore to our meeting, how that person acted on my flight, what that person posted on social media. Judgy McJudgerson. Who made me the judge? Well, certainly not Jesus. In fact, in Matthew 7:1-2 Jesus warns, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” Whoa. That’s convicting. It’s also kind of relieving because honestly, it’s exhausting taking on the role of judge.

Yet, I am prone to do it, when I don’t take hold of my thoughts throughout the day. God did give us the ability to judge and seemingly adding fuel to my fire is later in Matthew 7 when teaching about false prophets Jesus said, “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act…” (Matthew 7:16) How can you identify good or bad fruit unless you are evaluating, or in essence judging, whether it is good or bad. I was wrestling with this riddle – the strong rebuke of a judgmental attitude juxtaposed with the call to examine and evaluate the fruit in people’s lives. Then God led me back to the middle of Matthew 7, almost like a bridge between what felt like two contradictory concepts. In the middle of Matthew 7 we find the Golden Rule: “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.” (Matthew 7:12) I re-read it slowly and deliberately.

I felt God pressing in on me to say the next time you feel the need to judge, or evaluate “the fruit” in someone else’s life, put yourself in their shoes first. Really take a moment and consider if you were that person. First off, more often than not, I am not witnessing a sin or “bad fruit”, so much as I am witnessing a preference that is different than my own. If it is sin, and I am in a place to speak into that person’s life, all scripture points to doing it in love. At church recently, a pastor called it a carefrontation. And German evangelist George Muller taught, “I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter.” I love this. I need time to allow God to guide me to compassion for this person, to fill me with his love for this person, to get me praying the same things for him or her as I want for myself. Then and only then can I bring a carefrontation.

Someone recently shared this courtroom visual with me. When we accept Jesus, it’s like being in court with God as the judge, and Jesus is standing in front of us so all God can see is Jesus. Now that’s the lawyer, or advocate I really want. Made in his image, we are to be that for each other. Am I willing to figuratively stand in front of the person I am about to confront or am I leaving them out there to be judged alone or worse yet, trying to play the role of judge myself.

Lord I pray to be liberated from the deception that I need to judge so much. I try to steal the role of judge from you, but I know “There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy.” (James 4:12) Holy Spirit please remind me when I am starting to judge so I can release the burden and find joy and rest. Help me to treat others the way I want to be treated. Help me to become more and more known as a trusted and compassionate advocate to my family and friends. Amen.