God Commands Us To Judge

God has commanded us to judge. The mantra that we "should not judge" came from worldly psychology not the Bible.

John 7:24 "24 Stop judging by outward appearances, and START JUDGING justly.”

We are to stop judging things by their appearance. So many people judge something to be right based on how it looks or how it feels. They also judge things as wrong without knowing the details.

God said not to do this, we are to judge based on God's standards. If we refuse to judge, to be accepted or feel happy, then we have disobeyed God. Our judgments must be based on truth and facts.

We are to judge based on real information, not merely what we think we see, but on what we know because we have seen both sides with our own eyes, asked questions and spoken honestly and openly to discern truth.

Far too many people are seeing actions without knowing what those actions mean and making judgments on what they have heard or think they see, rather than on communication while observing all the intricacies of a matter.

Humans tend to judge things as good because they like something someone said, the fact that they are popular or because they are physically beautiful, along with many other attributes, perhaps their musical ability or fame.

No one can judge with scanty information or the testimonies of others without real evidence. We cannot judge based on talents, skills or popularity.

I am reminded of the account of Eli the priest who judged Samuel's mother, Hannah (1 Samuel) as being drunk in the temple, when she was merely crying out to God to give her a child of her own. Eli saw her mouthing words silently, thought she had been drinking too much wine and rebuked her, only to discover she had not been drunk but rather was appealing to God intensely.

How many times have we seen something, being tempted to make a decision about it's status, right or wrong, only to find out later that we did not really understand what was going on. Had we passed that information on to someone else we could have caused great harm to someone's reputation, even turning close friends against one another.

When we do not have all the facts and when what is happening is not our business we can make a choice to ask the details for clarification or leave it alone entirely assuming it is not what it looks like because of our knowledge of the person we are observing.

It is human nature to interpret things as bad, wrong or mean when our perspective is tainted by our dislike for someone. Many times I have seen people being treated badly by those who don't even know the person for which they have contempt, simply because they didn't particularly like the person they were judging and they didn't like them because of what they heard about them. It pleased them to believe something evil.

It is also human nature to interpret things as good, right or happy when we are flattered personally or treated with honor, it is a stumbling block to base our appreciation for someone on how much they elevate or flatter us.

Proverbs 29:5
"A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet."

Proverbs 26:24-28
"Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling. A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin."

Flattery disarms, people can be very charming on the outside and wickedly evil on the inside. We cannot base our assessment of someone on how friendly they are to us.

I can't tell you the number of times someone said to me, about a complete stranger, "that person is really nice." My response has been at times, they were friendly, but we don't know if they are nice, because we don't know their life."

Many church cliques have been guilty of this monster of judging without enough information or information that had been tainted by the dislike of someone else. It is common for people to make superficial and completely wrong judgments because their assessments have been merely a superficial friendliness. It makes for a happy time, but cannot be trusted in developing relationships.

I have also seen people judged because of gossip, with very little information given on the part of someone else who had a bone to pick when there was no credible reason.

When people are corrected for their wrong attitudes or actions, they often give a bad report against the one that rebuked them, feeling justified in that evil report because they perceived the correction as a personal attack. Humble people receive a criticism, pray about it and either make changes to correct their own behavior or they dismiss the criticism as untrue because they have sought truth through prayer and found it to be incorrect, however this does not make them angry at the person who corrects them.

Those who are easily angered by a correction have much pride and must seek God for an attitude adjustment.

Those who would judge must remember to judge God's way according to His principles. In doing this we have to know what His principles are, seeking Him in prayer for truth.

Proverbs 16:17-19 "…17 The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; He who watches his way preserves his life. 18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. 19 It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly Than to divide the spoil with the proud.…"