CRITICAL JUDGEMENT
12th Jul 2023
Matthew 7:1-2 in The Message says, “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticise their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.”
We are commanded by Jesus to love one another, and one of the obstacles that stops this happening is a critical judgemental spirit. It seems impossible to love and judge at the same time. Some years ago after a long conversation about the subject, I felt the Lord direct me to search the Scriptures and see what they say about judging.
Romans 14:4 really impacted me, “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.”
I knew I had judged many people and although I hadn’t verbalised the judgements, they were in my thoughts, and I felt overwhelming condemnation. I asked Jesus, how do I deal with this? I was living in community at the time, and was instructed to go through the community phone list; to ask specific forgiveness where I had judged, and to release the person from every judgement I had made.
I saw a vision of a snowball gathering size and weight as each judgement was added, and then the snowball rebounding to hit me! I saw the stupidity and danger of acting in this way. I spent a long time in prayer releasing people and blessing them, receiving forgiveness and knowing the critical spirit had to be dealt a death blow.
Immediately a judgemental thought tried to enter my mind, I would dismiss it, in the Name of Jesus and bless the person rather than agree with it. There were many tears as I saw how few I had not judged, and how merciful and gracious the Lord was to forgive and cleanse me.
The amazing result of being cleansed and released from judging was that loving became so much easier. When the filter of ‘judgement’ was removed, I saw people through God’s grace-filled eyes, and to love and care became possible!
Check your heart today, and ask the Lord to help you release others from any critical, judgemental attitudes, and to be filled with His love and His resources, and a new incentive to ‘love one another as Christ has loved us!’
by Joyce Sibthorpe
