The closer we walk with God the more conscious we become of failure and sin within. Pray for a lively sense of sin, says Samuel Rutherford, the more sense of sin, the less sin. The court that throws the book at a convicted felon will do it because he doesn't seem redeemable and is beyond hope, and the only chance at reformation is to make him very sorry for his crime. Normally, there is leniency for the first time in court and it gets progressively worse and more strict. Some people tend to throw the book at people because they have a false sense of their own personal righteousness; however, God says that He will show mercy to the merciful. We all should say with Paul: "I am what I am by the grace of God" (1 Cor. 15:10).
The way we see things reveals more about us, what about the things we observe-it's all subjective interpretation. We see reality as we are not as it is. The Golden Rule says to treat others the way you want to be treated; therefore, do not ever throw the book at someone, unless he is a hardened recidivist and you seek to make him an example. The good judge always tempers his justice with mercy and metes out justice without bias and only after hearing carefully the arguments of both sides--he doesn't pervert justice or take bribes.
None of us really has his act together so well that we could escape death, if God were to decree suddenly to stop all evil in the world--no one would be left. It's all relative, the standard of goodness is God, not man and God doesn't grade on a curve. We are to judge nothing before the time according to 1 Cor. 4:6 and Jesus said that when you judge, judge righteous judgment (John 7:24, ESV): "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."
The way we see things reveals more about us, what about the things we observe-it's all subjective interpretation. We see reality as we are not as it is. The Golden Rule says to treat others the way you want to be treated; therefore, do not ever throw the book at someone, unless he is a hardened recidivist and you seek to make him an example. The good judge always tempers his justice with mercy and metes out justice without bias and only after hearing carefully the arguments of both sides--he doesn't pervert justice or take bribes.
None of us really has his act together so well that we could escape death, if God were to decree suddenly to stop all evil in the world--no one would be left. It's all relative, the standard of goodness is God, not man and God doesn't grade on a curve. We are to judge nothing before the time according to 1 Cor. 4:6 and Jesus said that when you judge, judge righteous judgment (John 7:24, ESV): "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."
The admonition not to judge in Matthew 7:1 is not to judge harshly nor rashly, and considering what standards you want to be judged by--it doesn't make an absolute prohibition on judging. In 1 Cor. 5:12 (ESV): "...Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?" God judges those outside the church! We must purge the evil ones from the fellowship because allowing sin in the camp (cf. Aachan's sin in Joshua) infects the whole camp and having sin in the family brings down the whole family; if one part suffers, they all suffer. Church discipline is a sign of a living and obedient church, and not out of control concerning its membership.
We are not to have a critical spirit of a brother because we don't have all the facts, and when we judge another it only shows what kind of person we are, or what offends us personally (usually the sin that we hate in ourselves). We don't know the details of our brother's case and are not to pry into his business like busybodies--live and let live and leave room for the judgment of God. It is not our job to stop sin, because only God can convict of it and bring one to repentance and faith. We must not habitually judge another brother because he stands or falls to his own master. Soli Deo Gloria!
We are not to have a critical spirit of a brother because we don't have all the facts, and when we judge another it only shows what kind of person we are, or what offends us personally (usually the sin that we hate in ourselves). We don't know the details of our brother's case and are not to pry into his business like busybodies--live and let live and leave room for the judgment of God. It is not our job to stop sin, because only God can convict of it and bring one to repentance and faith. We must not habitually judge another brother because he stands or falls to his own master. Soli Deo Gloria!
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