“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you use, it shall be measured to you again. And why do you complain about the splinter in your brother’s eye, but overlook the beam that is in your own eye?” (Matt 7:1-5)
Jesus asked many questions of his followers with the intention of getting them to see the truth. As He preached the Sermon on the Mount He began dealing with judging each other. There are many reasons why we ought not to judge and several of them are contained in this scripture. Judging is and always has been the biggest fault of Christians. We like to judge! The problem is, we are not capable to judge if we are honest.
Normally, the person who judges others does not consider their own condition first. Only those without sin can judge sin. No one should ever judge another for their lying while harboring lust in their own heart. None should consider judging the thief when they themselves are not tithing. The bottom line is this; we are all sinners, and that simple fact disqualifies us as someone else’s judge.
Only God has perfect insight. We are limited by our physical nature and blinded by our sin. We may think we have all the facts necessary to judge, but we don’t. Only God has perfect hindsight. He alone knows why people do what they do. We cannot see into a person’s past and determine the path that led them to their thoughts, emotions, attitudes, decisions, behaviors, motives, etc, but God can. Only God has perfect foresight. He alone knows the potential in a person. If you and I were left to judge, we would seldom consider the eventual outcome of a soul. We would condemn most as un-redeemable and mark them off our lists.
All this is especially alarming when we consider that the way we judge others is the way we will be judged. Whatever standard we hold others to will be the standard God uses to judge us. (read Matt 7:2) If you just can’t help but judge others, I have some good advice; begin with yourself! Judge yourself; you know more about you than anyone else anyway. Be honest now! Scripture says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not come under judgment.” (1 Cor 11:31)
By the way, the best news of all is that all of our sin was nailed to the cross. The ultimate Judge of all has provided a way to reconcile you back to Himself by judging your sin on the cross and offering you forgiveness and restoration instead. God did something for us that we could not have done for ourselves; He took all the sin of mankind and placed it on Jesus on the cross. Jesus became our sin, then God judged him, and even rejected him.
Hanging on the cross, Jesus went from calling God “Father”, to saying “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God judged Jesus so He could reconcile us back to himself so that we could have a personal relationship with the only true judge. You are pardoned by His grace and mercy.