'LET GOD BE THE JUDGE'
Inspiration
(by: Pastor James Scarborough, Donalsonville Assembly of God)

Recently I read the results of a survey from Lifeway Research that investigated the reasons that people leave one church to move to another. In the list of 10 reasons for leaving a previous church among American Protestants, I noticed two words that occurred more than once: judgmental and hypocritical. A large number of those surveyed stated they left a previous church because they viewed the pastor and the church members as judgmental and hypocritical. I know very little about how the survey was conducted, nor am I prepared to judge whether or not it is accurate, but I do believe that those of us in the church would do well to pay attention to our own lives to see if we are demonstrating in any way the appearance of being judgmental or hypocritical - or both.

I find it interesting that Christ warned against being judgmental and hypocritical in the same context. In Matthew 7:1-2, He gives us these instructions: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you" (NIV). In the verses that follow, He uses an extreme illustration to drive His point home to His hearers. He said that some are guilty of focusing on the speck of sawdust in another's eye while they have a plank in their own eye. Then He said, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (verse 5).

The command for us not to judge others does not mean that we should overlook what the Bible has clearly described as sin; those things that are obviously sinful must be dealt with in the proper Scriptural way. But we must be on the guard against putting the lives of others under our personal microscope to magnify their smallest faults while letting our own more obvious shortcomings go without being dealt with. Thus the Lord described such people as hypocritical judges of the faults of their fellowman.

We need to remember that we cannot assume the role of God by sitting in judgment over others. We should remind ourselves that as humans we are limited and imperfect; therefore, our judgment of others will bear the same traits. We must not forget that we base our judgment on outward appearance; only God can see into the hearts of individuals. How often have we wronged someone and caused them much hurt because we made judgments about them based merely on what we assumed, rather than what was really true?

It is true that many look for mere excuses to leave church - we cannot control that - but we can control our personal behavior and attitude. It is much better to attract others to God's house by displaying a Christ-like lifestyle than to drive them away by being judgmental and hypocritical.

Pay careful attention to Christ's instruction in Matthew 7:1; apply it to your life. Then allow God to be the judge of others as you focus on living a life that is pleasing to Him.