“Judge Not”
“But Jesus bent down and started to
write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning Him, He
straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be
the first to throw a stone at her.’” (referring to the woman caught in adultery) (John 8:6b-7)
Have you ever wondered what Jesus was writing on the ground? Was Jesus
preaching to them, teaching them, challenging them, condemning them? Was he
writing down a list of sins to which most of us fall prey, or was he just
trying to distract attention away from the accused woman?
The majority of Christians understand that all sin is equal. Romans
6:23a tells how the consequences of all sin are the same: “For
the wages of sin is death.” Though you may believe this, do you inadvertently
equate sins differently? Such as: Homosexuality is worse than heterosexual
promiscuity; Lying is worse than gossip; Stealing is worse than coveting,
Murder is worse than anger. Remember the consequences for all sins are death. Thinking of sin
in degrees of “bad” can quickly take you into dangerous territory.
Grading sins can take your eyes off Jesus. In Matthew 7:4-5, Jesus
challenges those listening to Him, “How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck
out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You
hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see
clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
Judging others can cause you to take the place of God in your life (a
very risky proposition). Even more, judging others reflects a misunderstanding
of the atonement of Christ. You are a sinner not because of your degrees or
amounts of sin, but simply because you are a sinner. Christ died for your sins,
paying the price for your sins with the sacrifice of His life.
The crowd was ready to impute judgement on the adulteress when Jesus
possibly began writing everyday sins of which we are all guilty: anger, hate,
selfishness, disrespect, unforgiveness, pride, lust, etc. Who can say none of
these sins are not your own? Once you focus on the sin instead of your Savior,
it becomes about you. When you think someone else’s sin is worse than yours,
you become prideful, if not delusional. As soon as you condemn another for his
sin, you are ignoring your own sin.
How do you respond to another’s sin? With
love! There is a story behind every sin:
• A lost person who
needs the love of Christ for salvation
• One who cannot
hold back sinful character traits because they hurt so badly on the inside
• A babe in Christ
who does not fully understand sin and desperately needs discipleship
• A Christian who is
calloused to his sin for lack of Christian fellowship where loving Christians
can help him learn the Word as they model the Christian life.
• A struggler caught
in addiction.
None of these need judgment, but more of Jesus. The next time you are
ready to judge, ask God to let you see with spiritual eyes. Inquire of God what
He wants you to do in this situation. Ask Him to empower and equip you to love
the one you are wanting to judge. You can never fully love God if you do not
love people. Not loving God short changes your relationship with Him. On the
other hand, you cannot love people if you do not love God. Loving God and
loving people are mutually dependent actions that both illuminate who you are
in Christ.
Colossians 1:13-14 “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and
brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.”
