“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 7:2) This passage has always gotten to me, as judging others and myself harshly is one of my greatest flaws. From a worldview, being highly critical can be practical since I can use it to be detail oriented, driven to succeed, and bring clarity to a situation. However, from a personal and spiritual perspective, it is detrimental. It causes me to highlight the flaws of others and see them as less than. It also causes me to be unforgiving of myself and others; that what is wrong is what is important, that it needs to be fixed. Hence, the arrogance of judgement.
When we judge, we set ourselves up as God, believing we know what is best, we know the “right” way, and a view, opinion or method of our own doing is the only way. We set ourselves up high so we can look down on others. Jesus warns that this behavior will come back to bite us, because how we judge is how God will judge us. While judgement is necessary to some degree to discern right from wrong or to assess a circumstance or interaction to determine a justified course of action, it is the way we judge that can get us into trouble. When we are harsh, holding others or ourselves in contempt, that is a dark place. We can brighten that dark place by bringing God into it, letting Him judge.
I am beginning to accept the narrow double-edged sword here. How can we accept others while also bringing them to Christ? How can I hold myself to a high standard but be forgiving when I will invariably make a mistake or fall short of my goal? Basically, how can I judge humbly? It is not our place to mark someone’s behavior on number line to indicate our approval of them. A good starting place is me; self-reflecting on how I can change my thoughts, behaviors and actions to mirror Christ. We can judge ourselves to fit more into the mold of what God desires of us while being compassionate when we don’t fit into the mold. I believe this will serve two purposes. It helps us directly by taking action to better ourselves and it also takes the focus and attention off others and puts it on ourselves, lessening the probability we judge them.
None of this is easy and I will likely continue to struggle with this for a long time. It is part of our nature to judge but I find confidence that God will lead us away from arrogance and towards humility. I pray for grace in this lifelong endeavor and that we can remember who is really sitting on the throne of judgement.
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