The Uncritical Temper - Oswald Chambers

The following is from Oswald Chambers:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. –Matthew 7:1.

Jesus says regarding judging—Don’t. The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual. Criticism is a part of the ordinary faculty of man; but in the spiritual domain nothing is accomplished by criticism. The effect of criticism is a dividing up of the powers of the one criticized; the Holy Ghost is the One in the true position to criticize, He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. 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. Jesus says, as a disciple, cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person’s place.

There is no getting away from the penetration of Jesus. If I see the mote in your eye, it means I have a beam in my own. Every wrong thing that I see in you, God locates in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17–20 ). Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man’s case about which we know nothing. The first thing God does is to give us a spiritual spring-cleaning; there is no possibility of pride left in a man after that. I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

I agree with everything he summarizes and it is good to see it put together so precisely and condensed. There is an important discussion that has to take place in today's society's perception of Christians.  For example, yesterday the Southern Baptist Convention came out boldly and publicly to say they do not believe that a gay marriage fits in their interpretation of the Bible.  To my knowledge, they are the first organization of size to do so and I have to say I admired that.  But there was much opposition to such a statement that were quick to say the SBC was judging.

A good example is baseball.  Let's say that I'm playing baseball against you and we play through three innings where the player batting hits the ball and then runs to first base.  But then in the fourth inning you run to third base after you hit the ball.  When I ask you what you are doing, you say you are playing baseball.  I pull the rule book out of my pocket and show you that the batter is supposed to run to first base and its on the right side, not the left side.  You argue that the rule book says to run to the "first" base and that base can be on the left side if you want it to be on the left side.  I simply reply,"Sorry, you're out".

In this example, am I judging you?  Not at all.  I'm just playing baseball.  You are insisting that I play the game your way and not the way the creator of baseball formed the game.  If I don't play your way, you call me names and tell everyone that I hate and do not love.  But I love the game and I know it is best played when we play by the written rules.  If you don't want to play, get out of the game.  But I don't see why I must play by a set of rules you wrote because I want to play baseball.

Is the SBC judging gays by not accepting gay marriage?  Not at all.  They are simply saying the Bible, as written and accepted for millennium, doesn't condone it and they intend to follow it as final authority.