I Cor 5: 12 KJV – ‘What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?’
To judge is to correct and declare something to be wrong or right, weighing them through God’s Word with the motive to redeem rather than castigate.
Many times we hear people say ‘please don’t judge me’. Sometimes our culture can be sensitive to hearing the truth about themselves or matters that personally affect them because it’s difficult. Sometimes we forget to love discipline (Proverbs 12:1). Because of this culture, there have been times I’ve found myself in trouble for being too loud or as they say calling a spade a spade/saying it as it is.
Still, avoiding to speak the truth in love could mean loss of spiritual life and missing God’s perfect will for someone, especially a follower of Christ. Paul, an attorney by profession, encouraged us to correct and judge ourselves as members of the church and the body of Christ.
As a community of believers, it is not our business to judge those outside the faith because unless they repent before they die they are already judged by God’s Word (John 3:18-19). But in judging ourselves we must be sure to make the right judgment in meekness with the hope of gaining a brother or sister back to the faith.
Acts 28:4 says, “When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” Paul used to be a murderer but experienced salvation and complete transformation on his way to Damascus. Still in this passage we find him being accused and judged falsely by people who didn’t even know him as a murderer. They were absolutely wrong.
So you see it’s not just important to judge your brothers and sisters in Christ from a place of love, but it’s also important to judge rightly with a heart of meekness.
PRAYER: Lord save me from wrong presumptions and help me with the wisdom to make right judgments and to correct with an attitude of compassion and love for the betterment of my brothers and sisters in Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.