Recently I listened to a message that caused me to stop and think about many things about myself, the message was on finding our identity. I began to think about how we judge. We all know the scripture that says ‘Judge not, lest you be judged.’ Most of us have heard it preached over and over again, that is not what I want to talk about today.
Judging is a part of life. We judge daily. Actually, we judge moment by moment. If a person is millionaire we judge them successful in life. If a minister has a ministry that is filled with signs, miracles, and wonders, we judge them successful in ministry and believe they are pleasing to God. If children are well-behaved, we judge their home life as good. All these judgments we make without knowing the truth of what is going on in the background.
We judge in the negative as well. If a teenager or young adult commits a horrendous crime, we judge the parents. If someone’s business fails or their ministry has trouble growing, we judge and say they must be doing something wrong. Right or wrong we judge.
The word judge is defined as to determine the excellence or defects of a person or thing. In daily life we generally look for the good or bad in people, true? We look for the good and bad in situations and we judge.
With all that being said, my question today is; how do you judge yourself? You see, as I was allowing God to speak to me about judging myself, He showed me that I judge myself according to many things…not good things.
For instance, I judge myself according to how people react to my daily writings, if I get a lot of emails, I judge that particular writing and in turn, myself, as good for that day. However, if I don’t get responses, I judge it as ‘not good and I judge myself as lacking.’ I found that I, at times, judge our ministry based on the amount of funds that come in each month. If we don’t have what we need come in, I judge that I must have not written as well as I should have, or I should have written about this or that. Keep in mind, I didn’t realize I was doing this type of judging until God pointed it out. It disturbed me.
I also discovered that I judged myself harshly when I would speak at conferences. I judged according to the amount of people who showed up, or their reactions to the message or if they invited me back or not. Oh my, this is extreme exposure, and it is painful, but it is true.
I don’t want to judge myself this way – therefore I am exposing this hidden way of thinking and purposing in my heart to change it now.
The enemy works to get us to judge ourselves as failures, when God calls us righteous and successful. He works to get us to judge ourselves lacking when God calls us prosperous. Jesus said in John 5:30; I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. He said ‘as I hear, I judge.’ That is the measuring stick by which we should judge ourselves, as well as others. As we hear from the Father, then we judge.
When God tells me to write a certain thing, and I obey and write that certain thing, that is where my judgment of myself should end. When God tells me to minister a certain way, whether the people respond or not, I should only judge myself according to what God speaks to me and allow it to end there…as should you. That alone is righteous judgment.
Paul said in 1 Cor. 4:3; But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. Just like Jesus, Paul didn’t judge himself by any other measure than what God said about Paul. Paul could have said ‘oh, I have committed these horrible things, God could never use me.’ However, he refused to judge himself, he went by what God said and that settled it for Paul. It should settle it for us as well, don’t you think?
Today, don’t judge others until you hear from God. AND…give yourself a break. Judge yourself only by what God and His word says about you then and only then can you walk free. It’s time to walk free!
Please take time to share our teachings on your facebook page!
