Judgmental

The best known verse in the Bible these days is Matthew 7:1. "Judge not that you be not judged." Oh, they take it way out of context. They ignore the fact that Jesus goes on to say the right way to judge (beginning with yourself) (Matt 7:3-5). They ignore the fact that the chapter includes "judgmental" things like "You will know them by their fruits." (Matt 7:15-16) They completely miss one of the most "judgmental" passages in all of Scripture where Jesus describes those who come to Him in the end saying, "Lord, Lord" and He answers, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness." (Matt 7:21-23) Still, people are quite sure that it is a Christian virtue not to notice or recognize sin. "Don't be judgmental" is the mantra.

I'm not writing this today about judging each other, though. I'm writing about the astounding phenomenon that we see almost every day around us of the supreme judgmentalism of almost every human being. It is routine, common, normal, even applauded. What am I talking about? It is the common practice of human beings to judge God. All the time.

What am I talking about? We see it as a common approach when circumstances occur that we don't like. Someone we love "dies too soon" or a dear one is diagnosed with cancer or we lose a job or a natural disaster occurs or ... everyday stuff that we don't like. And we say, "Where is God??!" We question the Sovereign. Like the Jews in John 11 when Jesus showed up after Lazarus died. "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?" (John 11:37) Like the guy who almost died last summer told me. "If the disastrous events of last summer were God's plan, I'm going to have a problem with God." If we are going to be satisfied with God, we don't try to adjust our expectations; we demand He meet them. He can do anything, right? Well, surely He can see how our demands are good and right and obviously better than His, so He should knuckle under and get to it.

We see it as a common approach to God's Word. Bible-believing Christians understand that Scripture is God-breathed. If God is God, He cannot be wrong. He cannot change. He cannot make a mistake. If He is omniscient, He can't be wrong even in future considerations. If He is omnipotent, He can protect His Word for all time so that the original texts and the ones we have today give us the same message. We don't worship a book; we worship God and value the book God has given us to tell us about Him. Still, the common approach is "Yes, yes, it's all well and good ... unless I disagree." So, for instance, that "sell all your possessions and give to the poor" thing is good because we're social justice warriors, but "the poor you will always have with you" is right out because we know better. "Judge not that you be not judged" is great because we don't want to be judged but "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:9-10) has to go because modern morality has cleared the way for that. So we -- and not just "those guys" -- pick and choose what Scriptures we like and what doesn't pass muster and pass judgment on God ... again.

So those who pound their bully pulpits demanding "No judgmentalism" are deeply and arrogantly judgmental when it comes to God. Imagine that! Imagine the gall that it takes to tell the Most High, "Sorry, you don't measure up." To require that God's Word must align with my wise thinking in order to be believed. If we are to believe God and follow Him, we have to figure out where He is wrong and fix Him ... and His Word. What could possibly be more arrogant than that?

That, dear readers, is the epitome of hubris, the pinnacle of judgmentalism. It is outside of reason and outside of wisdom and outside of anything at all that could be considered safe. So it is disturbing that so many of us practice it without even thinking of it. We don't need to rail on people about this. We need to take the log out of our own eye (Matt 7:5). Because we all do it at times. Because then we can see to help others, not judge them. Not castigate them. Not point fingers. And not ignore, either.