Do Not Judge

We human beings usually are so quick to point the finger at someone, judge him or her according to our standards of good behaviour and when we judge them we in a way condemn them.

However, before we make a judgment, we should read in the Gospels what Jesus had to say and how He behaved in His private intimate relationship with His Father and His dealings with people. See Luke 6:36-38

First of all Jesus made it very clear, He said, “do not judge so as not to be judged” (Matt 7:1). People tend to judge by what they see but usually they overlook the fact that nine times out of ten, they don’t have the whole facts at their disposal, so they judge according to their own values and according to appearances. That is very dangerous! Let us instead refrain from doing so, and instead be merciful as Jesus is merciful towards sinners.

We all need a Doctor “Jesus”. We all need to be cleansed and purified. As Jesus says if anyone says he has not sinned, he is a liar. If we look at our lives, none of us can even pick up a stone let alone consider throwing it at a sinner even though that person may be a murderer or adulterer.

As Jesus says quite clearly in this text “If there is one of you who has not sinned let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 7:7). When we read that verse and think about it deeply and meditate on what it implies, we should realize that we have to be careful not to fall into the devil’s trap of being the world’s judge, but instead we should pray, pray unceasingly for sinners to be covered, to repent of their ways and turn back to God and live for Him and Him only by serving and loving Him completely and helping His people.

Jesus has then to become Lord and master of our lives in all ways. We need to pray that we are more and more merciful in our dealings with people. Jesus is love and mercy shown in total perfection – in other words model our lives on Jesus.

If we have failed to do so in the past, let us pray and repent of our sins, sometimes our very many sins and ask God for His love, mercy and forgiveness and ask Him to heal us and cleanse and purify us of all decay and if we can, try to ask forgiveness of those we have hurt as well.

Let us pray to God to act in our lives and lead us away from evil, as it says in the Lord’s Prayer, “…lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” (Matt 6:13).   So instead of “stone, kill, destroy that person who has done wrong”, urging us to judge, kill and condemn, let us instead pray to God for mercy on that person and to be healed from that attitude towards that person.

James 5:11 says “The Lord is kind and compassionate as it says in the Bible that He is slow to anger and rich in mercy,” and pray unceasingly to God for a change of attitude towards people for He is the Lord and Saviour of your life and only He can change you by His Holy Spirit, for He is the creator and the potter. We are the clay, and He can mould us into the people he wants us to be, holy and spotless without the stain of sin in our lives and that we can truly love Him with all our hearts, souls and spirits and love our neighbour as Jesus loves us. We should treat others as we would like them to treat us, as seen in Luke 6:30.

Help me not to judge prayer:

Sweet Jesus,

Please help me to be always kind and compassionate. Help me never to judge, but help me to be truly merciful and loving as you are love and mercy itself. Help me to love you completely and serve and worship you.

Amen.

By Dominic and Marie-Helene Bradshaw