It is clear in Scripture that Jesus warns us against judging others. To judge others will in fact bring the judgment of God upon ourselves.

Yet, we must come to an understanding of what Jesus meant when He commissioned us not to judge. This is important because we are bothered by the fact that the Apostles, particularly Paul, judged the people in the church and Jesus Himself was rather candid in judging many of the religious leaders of His day. So the logical question that begs an answer is, in what sense are we to understand the command against judging if judging was not altogether avoided by our Lord?

I believe that we can arrive at a comfortable resolve if we scrutinize the relevant Scriptural passages in proper context. In Matthew, Jesus tells us "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" But we note that He does not stop there. He includes a significant detail later in the verse, "first take the plank out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." These and other passages seem to suggest Jesus was instructing us against engaging in hypocritical judgment. In Johns Gospel, Jesus is more succinct. First He tells us what is unacceptable and then He tells us what is acceptable. "Stop judging by mere appearances (unacceptable), and make a right judgment (acceptable)" (7:24).

The key consideration here is in our making a right judgement. It is not a matter of first impressions or biases or assumptions. If I say of another, "He thinks he is better than anyone else" or "She is a nasty housekeeper" or "He is not a real Christian because I seen him coming out of a bar" or "Look at the way she is dressed, what Christian would dress like that" or "All men are dogs;" I am making wrong judgments and will be held accountable for it.

It is only when we probe beneath appearances that we are able to make right judgments. We must consider the factors that are not evident to the human eye. Consider for example you judged a woman as being lazy because her home was untidy when you visited. What is your judgment based on? What are the facts? Was her home "cluttered" because she had unexpected guests the night before and did not have the time to clean up before you arrived? Was it a chore one of her children was assigned to perform but failed to do it? Had she been ill for a few days and things just piled up? Did you drop in unexpectedly? What defines cluttered for you? Are you judging her based on your own standard of housekeeping? What are the facts? Unless we dig beneath appearances to obtain facts, we are certain to come to wrong conclusions.

We must understand that ignorance blinds judgment. And, if we do not know the facts we make ignorant judgments and this is what Jesus warns us against. In the economy of God, proper judgment is loving in nature. If we observe moral or spiritual shortcomings in a person, we should strive to help him/her progress toward greater faithfulness. This is what Paul sought when he admonished the Galatians - "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." 6:1a

The use of right judgment is in short supply. And even though Jesus does not seem to renounce all judgment, it is crystal clear that He forbids hypocritical judging. He draws a sharp line between ethical/Christian appraisal and acid tongue criticism.

Too often our misguided sense of superiority govern our judgments which become nothing more than crafty manipulations intended to discredit or ruin another person or exalt ourselves. As Christians, it is incumbents upon us to always focus more attention on our own imperfections than the imperfections of others. As someone said, "we are to view our own shortcomings as logs and those of others as mere specks."

FLAW DETECTIVES

Hypocrites are complacent and indifferent,
Oblivious to all moral laws;
They are devoted to their nefarious work,
To detect and point out all our flaws.

Long hours they spend in the business
Of picking specks from their neighbor's eye;
Though large beams protrude from their own,
Their faults they are quick to deny.

Flaw detectives specialize in little things,
Expecting to produce big results.
Penny wise and pound-foolish they are,
Offending with demeaning insults.

These detectives cannot bear to inspect themselves,
The shock would no doubt be too great.
Instead, they go around with a magnifying glass
Searching for other's mistakes.

A sad group they are, flaw detectives.
They never learn or come to comprehend
That the ones they now so criticize,
May be the ones they must one day depend.

From "Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach"