The Pulpit: Judge Me Not or Help Me Yes

Here is a phrase that I am sure everyone has heard and probably even said once or twice: “Judge not unless you want to be judged.” Sound familiar? It is something that we say when we are doing something we shouldn’t be doing or you confront someone else. You might also hear people in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks. Sometimes we get so caught up in these phrases that we are afraid to even say anything to someone who is headed down the wrong road. After all, don’t we all have problems of our own? Why should we worry ourselves with someone else’s problems? Besides they are just going to pop off with one of the above comments. Well let’s take a moment and explain the first phrase. “Judge not” is talking about casting an eternal judgment on someone. We don’t have the ability to understand our own hearts much less someone else’s heart. We are called by Jesus to be fruit inspectors. If you were a corn farmer and you began to have cotton grow in your fields wouldn’t you want to know why? We should never try to tell someone what is in their heart when they do something. Our job is to look at the fruit and help them produce the right fruit for the right fields. I know that people will take offense sometimes when you call them out on something. Don’t you? It is all in how you say things. If you don’t have a relationship with the person, it will never be received well. I heard someone once say rules before a relationship always breeds rebellion. That is true in every sense of the word. So what about you? Are you just trying to judge me or do you want to help me?