Do Not Judge
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” - Matthew 7:1
Recently, I was spending time with the Lord, and I felt like the Holy Spirit quietly said to me as I was praying for a certain people, “they look like your Daddy.” It was in that moment that I realized what the Holy Spirit was telling me. Each and every person is a representation of their Creator. They look like my Daddy, my Heavenly Father. I realized that I had looked at certain people as less than, not worthy of my time or attention. But the Father was reminding me that each and every person was made, created, and designed by Him. He had placed a value on them that I had no business replacing.
Do not judge or you will be judged... - Matthew 7:1 As a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was helping us process the motives of the heart. He was making the point that if you judge something, you give it a value of what it is capable of, what it can do, AND what it cannot do.
When we become a judge of someone, we assign a value that we determine to be appropriate for that person based on our perception of their actions, what we think is in their heart and/or their intentions. When we place our value on another human being, someone God created for His glory, we treat that person as less than they were actually created to be.
Judgment is a transactional process. We tend to assign value based on their worth to ME - what they do for me or how they can benefit my life. We may not think that a person is worth our respect, time, or attention. On the other end of the spectrum, we may assign a very high value to a person because of the benefit they bring. That person with high value then gets all of my respect, time, and attention.
Jesus said, “do not judge (don’t place undue value on a person). Or you will be judged in the same manner (have the same value placed on you)." It isn't that God judges you by the same standard you judge others, because that would mean God changes His standard. Jesus is helping us recognize a principle. When you judge someone, you place a value on them and begin to create your own system of measurement.
Let me say it like this: I will decide someone’s worth based on my own value system, which is tied to my beliefs, thoughts, experiences, and feelings. This is imperfect, at best! God the Father has a standard of value that is righteous, just, and equally measured to each person. So when I judge someone, my own value system comes into play. The same standard I have created to determine people’s worth (by their value to me) is now the same system I am required to use on myself. In other words, as I judge them, I measure them. As I value them, I put myself in that same value system. I end up living in a hierarchy of valuation that God did not create, and I put myself on the judgment seat. I don't know about you, but the only value system I want to live up to is my Heavenly Father's.
Jesus was talking to the scribes and religious leaders when He told this story in Luke 18:9-14.
Now He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other one; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
The Pharisee considered himself to be doing well based on his judgment (value) of the tax collector, but that comparison blinded him to his own need for mercy and forgiveness.
We are called to be more like the tax collector who calls on God's grace for our lives. We need to be able to see people as God sees them, His own creation with value.
ACTIVATION:
PRAYER: Daddy, I am so grateful that You created each and every person and that You designed them with a purpose in mind, one that fulfills Your call on their life. I pray that You would help me to see Your heart for them. Help me to recognize that each person is a representation of Your nature and character and that Your heart is to redeem every one of them. Amen.
Recently, I was spending time with the Lord, and I felt like the Holy Spirit quietly said to me as I was praying for a certain people, “they look like your Daddy.” It was in that moment that I realized what the Holy Spirit was telling me. Each and every person is a representation of their Creator. They look like my Daddy, my Heavenly Father. I realized that I had looked at certain people as less than, not worthy of my time or attention. But the Father was reminding me that each and every person was made, created, and designed by Him. He had placed a value on them that I had no business replacing.
Do not judge or you will be judged... - Matthew 7:1 As a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was helping us process the motives of the heart. He was making the point that if you judge something, you give it a value of what it is capable of, what it can do, AND what it cannot do.
When we become a judge of someone, we assign a value that we determine to be appropriate for that person based on our perception of their actions, what we think is in their heart and/or their intentions. When we place our value on another human being, someone God created for His glory, we treat that person as less than they were actually created to be.
Judgment is a transactional process. We tend to assign value based on their worth to ME - what they do for me or how they can benefit my life. We may not think that a person is worth our respect, time, or attention. On the other end of the spectrum, we may assign a very high value to a person because of the benefit they bring. That person with high value then gets all of my respect, time, and attention.
Jesus said, “do not judge (don’t place undue value on a person). Or you will be judged in the same manner (have the same value placed on you)." It isn't that God judges you by the same standard you judge others, because that would mean God changes His standard. Jesus is helping us recognize a principle. When you judge someone, you place a value on them and begin to create your own system of measurement.
Let me say it like this: I will decide someone’s worth based on my own value system, which is tied to my beliefs, thoughts, experiences, and feelings. This is imperfect, at best! God the Father has a standard of value that is righteous, just, and equally measured to each person. So when I judge someone, my own value system comes into play. The same standard I have created to determine people’s worth (by their value to me) is now the same system I am required to use on myself. In other words, as I judge them, I measure them. As I value them, I put myself in that same value system. I end up living in a hierarchy of valuation that God did not create, and I put myself on the judgment seat. I don't know about you, but the only value system I want to live up to is my Heavenly Father's.
Jesus was talking to the scribes and religious leaders when He told this story in Luke 18:9-14.
Now He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other one; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
The Pharisee considered himself to be doing well based on his judgment (value) of the tax collector, but that comparison blinded him to his own need for mercy and forgiveness.
We are called to be more like the tax collector who calls on God's grace for our lives. We need to be able to see people as God sees them, His own creation with value.
ACTIVATION:
- Repent of the value system you have created and use on people.
- Ask God to forgive the place of judgment you have taken at times by imposing your own over His.
- Accept God’s judgment as the only righteous value system. Ask Him to be able to see each person as He sees them.
PRAYER: Daddy, I am so grateful that You created each and every person and that You designed them with a purpose in mind, one that fulfills Your call on their life. I pray that You would help me to see Your heart for them. Help me to recognize that each person is a representation of Your nature and character and that Your heart is to redeem every one of them. Amen.
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