I get it. I do. We live in a world that does not want to be judged. We live in a world where it is looked down upon to judge others. Live and let live. I did that for 25 years. I won’t do it anymore. We were made to judge. God placed that ability directly in the heart of our being. We are to judge but also because we judge ourselves. Matthew 7:1 is such a misused verse. “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Keep reading. We have to take out the plank in our own eye before we can see clearly to remove the speck in our sister’s eye. We need to judge, that is called helping others remove their specks.

I removed a plank recently in my own eye and now there is the tendency to try to help remove the specks in others that are cut from the very same plank that was lodged in my eye. But guess what? Most times people just get mad and say, “Who are you to judge, you are not God!” Again, I get it. I do. But the Bible also says in Hebrews 5:14 to have discernment that is trained so we can distinguish good from evil. In Ephesians 5:10 we are called to try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Romans 12:2 tells us to not be conformed to this world. Renew your mind. We need to discern the will of God. Please, go look up these verses. Better yet, do a word search on “discern.”

The term for discern in Ephesians 5:10 and Romans12:2 is dokimazo which based on the Strong’s dictionary means to “test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not).” The word translated to discern in Hebrews 5:14 is diakrisis which literally means to judge. There is verse after verse in both the Old and New Testaments teaching us to judge. It is not a bad thing. Somehow we have locked onto Matthew 7:1 and selfishly and foolishly want others to stop judging us.

Judgment from others is hard. It means we may have to look at ourselves closely and we may not like what we see. Sadly, and most commonly, we may actually like what we see and just not want to change. We find others who do the same as we do and have somehow managed to justify ourselves. Bad has become good and good has become bad.

Friend, I love you. I want the best for you. Not here in this world, but in heaven. I don’t always go about it the right way and yes, I can sound “judgy” but don’t you remember the teachers you had in grade school and college? The ones who were harder on you? It was because they loved you and saw the greatest potential in you. If you read my posts or listen to my broadcasts and feel like I am judging you, then take that conviction as a gentle nudging from the Holy Spirit. See it as a gift. See it as a way to grow and become a better version of you. Don’t get angry and snarky. There is enough of that in this world. We all mess us, me included. Yes we are not perfect and yes there is only One true Judge. My prayer is that when you meet Him for the first time face to face that he says “Well done” rather than, “Depart from me.”