Judge Not

This is a very well written devotion by Oswald Chambers today.  I started to add to it, but then backed out as I'm not sure anything could add to it.  There are many great statements in it.  I did add the Bible verses to his references for ease of reading.  May God forgive me for anytime I possibly think or consider a thought of judgment or devaluation of another person or their character.  For then, I become the greatest sinner.

Here is Oswald's writing:

Judge not, that you be not judged - Matthew 7:1

Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.”  The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known.  Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood.  Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others.  Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time.  You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.

There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus.  If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own, "And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye" (Matthew 7:3-5).

Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me.  Every time I judge, I condemn myself.   "¹⁷ Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, ¹⁹ and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. ²¹ You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?  You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?²²  You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery?   You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³  You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?  ²⁴ For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written." (Romans 2:17-24).  

Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation.  The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning.  After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us.  I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.