Have you ever heard anyone tell you “The Bible says do not judge.”?
And what is your response? We try not to judge because we think that the Bible tells us not to judge, but that is not true. The Bible says in Matthew 7 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” It does not say don’t judge, it says don’t judge unless you are ready to be judged by the same judgement you give. The splinter we see in the eye of the other is akin to the log we have in our own eye…
But I find it interesting that in John 12:34-50 Jesus talks about why he came. We will say that we are not to judge because the Bible tells us not to, and because Jesus it the judge. Yet John 12 tells us something different. In John 12 Jesus says:
“Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
Did you get that? Jesus said “I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” I did not come to judge anyone who does not hear my words and do them. I came to save the world… So Jesus is not the judge. But he tells us next who the judge is, His word. We will be judged by not hearing what Jesus said and doing it. I am actually more scared by this than by Jesus judging me.
How many times have I failed to love my neighbor as myself? How many times have I put myself first and thought about my own needs before the needs of the other?
Who is going to judge us? The words of Jesus…
aSacredRebel 