“Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

                                    Matthew 7:1

“Hear ye, hear ye . . .”

 Judged anyone lately?

 Sadly, the answer for most of us (including me) is yes.

There was that guy who cut me off in traffic the other day. What a horrible driver and horrible man. He must be, or he wouldn’t have cut me off like that. Guilty!

And then there’s that young kid, pants hanging down so far you can see the pattern on his underwear. He must be a thug of the worst kind. No! A gang member. If he hasn’t already done time, he will. Guilty!

And that woman. You know who I’m talking about. Yes, you do. Yeah, her. Not much you can say about her that hasn’t already been said, is there?! Guilty!

It is so easy to judge. And most of the time, we don’t even realize we’re doing it. “I was only making an observation . . .” The problem is, “making an observation” with no purpose behind it is really just judging in disguise on. And once we start to judge, it only gets worse. It goes downhill so fast it takes over who you are.

Judgment is the basis of racism, sexism and almost every other ‘ism’ you can think of.

And it’s also incompatible with the Christian faith.

Jesus said Christians should be known for how deeply we love. Yet studies show that in the eyes of many non-Christians, all we’re known for is how deeply we .judge

The problem in many cases is not that unchurched people don’t know any Christians. The problem is that they do. And they don’t like us. And for good reason. We’ll use our seats on the pew like the bench of the Supreme Court, handing down judgment after judgment, even on Sunday mornings. “Look at Myrtle – did she get dressed in the dark? Doesn’t she own a mirror?” “What is wrong with those kids? Jeans and drums in church?”

Uncomfortable? Well, we’re not done on this topic yet. We’ll pick up here next time . . .

Loving God help us not to judge others for in how we judge them, You will judge us . In Jesus’ name, AMEN.