Are you judgmental? Of course you are. We all are. Healthy choices, good decisions, correct assessments, job performance criteria, and better friends all stem from our judgments. And yes, that includes moral judgment. Definitely. Being wary of a lecherous-looking creep at the playground, seeing a dog or cat locked in a car on a 100+° day; or avoiding a dark alley with sketchy folks lingering in the shadows might raise your judgmental hackles. If not, in fact, you probably rate low as a friend or neighbor, and might have trouble surviving.
We certainly do not want to falsely accuse people, however. The quality of our judgments should rival (and maybe influence) the quantity. So it is also true that we should judge better, lest we be judged.
Improving judgments starts with increasing every good aspect of our own character. Judgment should be patient and kind; not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude. Sound judgment cannot insist on its own way, nor be made with irritable or resentful attitudes. Good judgment does not look for wrongs, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. That looks familiar because judgment should always be made in love.
RULE #1 in judging requires me to judge myself first. I recognize those skills and talents in myself. To understand the sin means to identify with the sinner. There have been times when I was angry enough to seriously harm someone, greedy enough to steal, lustful enough to destroy relationships. I have been a boor, a pig, a liar, a cheat, a bad guy. These are the criteria for judgment. We can even see it in humor.
Two old men sat on a park bench and a gorgeous young woman walked by. The old bald guy nudged his friend. “I want to take her out again, and wind up with her in my arms all night like before,” he said.
His friend exclaimed, amazed, “You! You’ve done this with her before?”
“Of course not,” said Baldy, “but I’ve wanted to before. She walks by almost every Saturday.”
And that is the heart of judgment. The fact is, we know it all too well.
Recent Comments