“Don’t Judge Me”

So I’ve noticed that the new trend for Christians is that when someone is addressing a particular sin or exposing the truth about some acts, people come on to say “stop judging” and my new fav “only God can judge me”. Alright.

Before I even move on, let’s define judging. So there are a ton of definitions relating to judgement in a law court and deciding on a competition but I think the definition we’re looking at is to make a conclusion about something.

Matthew 7:1-6 says that we shouldn’t judge anyone because that’s the same way we’ll be judged. It also says to remove the plack of wood in our own eyes before we remove the speck of dust from our neighbors eyes.

Now this scripture relates to hypocrites. We do certain things and yet when we hear of someone having done the same thing, we’re quick to think “What a sinner!”

Some pastors and church leaders will commit adultery and yet force a young man to sit in the “condemnation seat” for fornication.

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭4:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This passage here encourages Christians to rebuke each other with great patience and careful instruction. As we see in the Bible, the word of God is useful for instruction, rebuking etc.

What does it mean to rebuke? It means a sharp disapproval for a certain action. You see sometimes we may be doing things that are detrimental to our walk with Christ and it’s important that another believer corrects us. What stands out is with patience.

So while one involves forming a conclusion about someone, the other involves calling out an action as it is. We need to understand the difference and stop hiding behind “do not judge” to continue in sin.

The Bible is clear about some things that are sins. Some include greed, lying, stealing, sexual immorality etc. If I tell someone that stealing is wrong, I am not judging them, I’m telling them as it is in the scripture. However if I say “you’re a bad person because you’re stealing and you’ll go to hell” that is judging.

And for those who say “only God can judge me”, that should scare you. The Bible says to fear God’s wrath. You should be glad that your brother or sister is calling out what you’re doing wrong so that at the end of the day you don’t have to face that wrath.

Let’s turn our ear to correction.

“Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭9:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Are you wise?