Here’s an unflattering truth about me.  I’ve got a knack for judging others.  Not that I do this all the time.  But I have done it more than I should.

God’s been talking to me about this over these last few years, reminding me that it is not mine to judge any other. 

I am not to judge them, just as I would wish that they not judge me.

When we judge others, we put ourselves above them.  We deem our way the right way, and theirs the wrong way.

In essence, we perch ourselves on a make-believe throne.  A throne that is not ours to make.

God says in Matthew 7:1-2:

Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

OUCH.

Sometimes we raise our standards so high that not even we could live by them if we were dealt the same circumstances given to those we judge.

And here’s another truth. 

Sometimes I think I am supposed to judge others when they aren’t living according to the standards the Bible lays out. 

As if I am the Bible’s Gatekeeper.

But do you know what God said to me about that?

Daughter, the only person you should ever judge is the one sitting in your own seat. You do not know what is going on in another’s heart. Only I know these things. 

And placing our disapproval on others, including our children, is just another form of judgment. 

To all of my children:  I am so very sorry for the times I have done this to you.

I say all of this not to throw condemnation on my fellow judges.  I say it to free you, as God is showing me this:

To climb up in the judgment seat is to put oneself in a place of discontent.

Because there’s no room for grace or joy when you sit upon it.  

That’s one reason why God doesn’t want us on it in the first place.

All of us are in desperate need of grace and forgiveness.  We need it given to us, and we need to be in the business of giving it to others. 

Jesus spent his days loving, accepting, and reaching out to the broken.  Never did he judge them. 

That’s not what he came to do.  

Just look at John 3:17 –

God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

His job on earth was to love, forgive, and free the sinner.

And his job in heaven now is to sit at the throne of the Father, pleading with God for all of us. 

We see this in Romans 8:34 – 

Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Friends, this is our example.  To love and not condemn.  And if we are to be like Jesus, this is what we also should be doing.

I’m praying for a heart that loves others.  A heart that sees who God made them to be.  One that can look past their failures or their blatant sin and not get hung up on that. 

I want to be one who can embrace others and love them so much that they don’t even know that I might not agree with some of their choices. 

Because their choices don’t matter in the context of my showing the love of Christ. 

Their choices are theirs to make, and the consequences of those are between them and God.

So I will do my best to follow in Jesus’ footsteps; to love others apart from their choices, to guide them gently toward the Word, and to advocate for them before the Father.  Just like Jesus.

I’m telling you – this message is freeing.  That gavel in the hand is heavier than you think.

When we can accept this fully, there’s a whole load we can shed off our shoulders. 

If you have struggled with this like I have, I pray that God will help you let that load go.

It begins with an honest confession to God himself and an earnest, daily effort to not climb back up in that judgment seat.

Offer it to God. Then Let. It. Go.   

My friend, I am not your judge. 

To those whose paths I have crossed, I say this to you:

If I have judged you in a way that you are aware, I beg your forgiveness. If I have judged you in a way that only God knows, I beg his forgiveness. 

I am doing my best to shed my judge’s robe and keep the gavel in the hand of the one to whom it belongs. 

Because the only way I will ever look like Jesus is if I walk in his steps, loving the ones he would love, in the way he would love them.

Help me do this, Lord.  And may I do it in a way that honors you.