Would You Dare?

Bill Brinkworth

One of man’s natural tendencies is to judge others by his own measuring stick; usually himself. Paul, in Romans 2, strongly addresses this weakness.
“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?" Romans 2:1

Most of the time when we judge others, we have or have had the same problem ourselves. It seems that those that have had the biggest problems, or are still having them, complain the loudest of another’s weaknesses. It is the ex-smoker that criticizes the loudest about another’s smoke he is inhaling. An older man grumbles to a son about his child’s late hours coming home, forgetting how his father used to rebuke him in his younger, cohorting days. One that recently lied on his income tax form somehow is not convicted, when he judges a worker that just lied to him. On and on our hypocritical judging goes.

God, however, knows the truth, and He remembers (Rom. 3: 3). For the born-again child of God, there is no judgment for sins. All his sins are paid for and no longer remembered (Hebrews 10:17). All Christians, however, will be judged (Mat. 12:36, Gal. 6:7, Eph. 6:8, Col. 3:24 …) for what they did or did not do for the Lord. It is called the Judgment Seat of Christ (II Cor. 5:10), and it will involve reward or loss of rewards (Rev. 22:12).

For the unsaved person, sadly their judgment will be at the White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). That fearful condemnation will be at the end of Christ’s 1,000 year reign on this earth. At that judgment, the lost will be judged for their works (Rev. 20:14).

In light of our future day of judgment before an Almighty God who knows everything about us, (including real intents for doing something, what we did when no one else saw us, and all other dark secrets), our judgment of others seems so insignificant and embarrassing, on our part. We certainly want our mistakes and sins over-looked. Can we stop judging others, and leave that to the One who knows all?

“Reputation is what man thinks of us. Character is what God knows us to be.”

This article was in The Bible View #307.