Thursday 12th September
Read Matthew 7:1-2
“‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (NIVUK)
I confess I was slightly comfortable with what these words mean in practice until I read the series of examples that Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones used as things to beware of. In the spirit of not selfishly hoarding my discomfort I thought I would share them with you.
The ‘spirit of judgment’ shows itself in practice in a ‘willingness to give judgment when the matter is of no concern to us at all. How much of our time do we spend in expressing our opinion about people who have nothing to do with us at all?’
The ‘spirit of judgment’ shows itself when we put ‘personalities in the place of principles’. It is so easy to shift our focus from the argument being proposed and its merits, to the person making the argument and their failings.
The ‘spirit of judgment’ reveals itself within us if ‘we habitually express our opinion without a knowledge of all the facts’. Not bothering to research the circumstances around any incident before passing judgment is the perfect definition of ‘prejudice’.
The ‘spirit of judgment’ is never concerned to hear all of the circumstances with a willingness to excuse, ‘it is never ready to exercise mercy’. It is rarely interested in hearing all of the mitigating circumstances but will make its decision without appeal.
The ‘spirit of judgment’ shows itself in a tendency to pass ‘final judgment’ on people, precluding any ability on their part to change. One can’t help thinking of Mr Darcy’s observation that ‘his good opinion once lost, is lost forever’ from Jane Austen’s classic study of prejudice…
How comfortable are you that Jesus is not talking to you specifically and personally? As we will read tomorrow, I suspect Jesus’ observation about logs and specks in eyes (Matthew 7:3-5) is based on the not unreasonable assumption that we all think we only have specks in our eyes…
