Oops I did it again.
Judge not, that ye not be judged.
I’ve heard this verse from the Bible thrown here and there, usually by non-followers of Christ and usually used as a weapon against someone. Now, I’m not going to let Followers of Christ off the hook either. We use it to save ourselves in an argument when we have nothing else to say.
But have you ever really sat down and thought about what it means? Oswald Chambers did in his book “My Utmost for His Highest.”
He says it is impossible to enter into communion with God when you are in a critical temper: it makes you hard and vindictive and cruel, and leaves you with the flattering unction that you are a superior person.
Now, for those of you who don’t use the word “unction” very often, I looked it up for us. It means “the act of anointing as a rite of consecration. “
Oswald goes on to hit us over the head, right between the eyes with this parting shot. “Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person’s place.”
I wonder how often in a day I judge someone? I could throw the term “unfairly” in that sentence to get me off the hook but I’m not looking to be de-hooked. (I know that’s not a word get over it)
I wonder what my life would or could be like if I truly just stopped the judgment, lest I be judged.
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Peaceful…in tune…bliss…unworldly. this thought makes me think back to The Shack, when he was in the cave and had to sit on the judgement seat, thinking initially he was going to be judged and complaining that he wasn’t dead yet(which we are) and being told that he was to judge, and told you do such a “good” job of judging others lets make it official, go ahead judge. This passage made me cringe when I think how many time a day I act superior: driving in my car, the way someone looks or dresses or acts…… for give me Poppa. Ps 51 daily, “create in me a clean heart and renew a “right” spirit within me”….
Here’s the enigma about judgement: We always judge according to our strengths and never by our weaknesses. We are strong in one area of life and when we see others who are not we label them. Instead of thinking I have weak areas in my life too… I love you anyway. Jesus made himself weak and became our source of strength. He became the ultimate judge because he does not judge by outward appearances as we so often do- he only looks at the heart. John the Immerser said I must become less that he might become more. This teaching is taken from the first verse of Leviticus (the priests instruction manual). It can only be seen in a hebrew torah scroll not english translations. The letter A is made smaller than the rest of the text. The letter A in Hebrew was a heiroglyph for an ox which was a symbol of strength. The sentence starts out “And he called”. That’s what Leviticus means. So, those who are called must make themselves small to have strength in Him. As priests today we must become less, not more like our American culture teaches us, so that we can become a strength to our brothers and sisters. Enjoy the wind Rick!