Matthew 7:1-6
Judge and You Shall Not Be Judged
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 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.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Jesus teaches us not to judge...He clearly states that, we should not judge...But even though He said this He has the Perfect Right, and Perfect Knowledge to judge us...But He did not go around judging others...Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you change and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”...Children do not judge, a child loves, trusts, has natural, beautiful faith in themselves and in others...Children do not look for reasons to distrust or judge the person they are with our are around...They do not want to condemn the ones around them...It is not in a child's nature to judge someone...
Jesus judges very little about others...Jesus refuses to condemn even an adulteress, because He knows where judging leads and the importance of not judging her or others...When we judge what comes with judgement, it is a bias, a feeling that in our judgment on the person is that they are doing something wrong...What comes with judgement is some sort of condemnation, either small or large condemnation and judging divides instead on uniting us...So, if and when we judge others, in the same way we judge others, we will be judged, and with the measure we use, it will be measured back to us...
Jesus said that unless we become like little children on the subject of judging, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven...Children do have this innate, natural faith and trust in others that is often lost as we grow older...We seem to outgrow our non-judging quality and begin to judge others later in life...I wonder if children grow out of not judging to judging because of the elders that they are around, and their experiences as they are growing older...Jesus did refuse to condemn the adulteress and instead showed her mercy and forgiveness...He knew that judging her would only lead to condemnation and that it was not His place to judge her...He is showing us the Perfect Example of how not to judge others...
Let us also be aware that there is a difference between making a moral judgment and judging and condemning someone...We are called to make moral judgments every day and to discern right from wrong many times a week...However, we are not called to condemn others or to judge them harshly...Instead, we are called to show them love, forgiveness, and mercy just as Jesus did with the adulteress and all the others He met...