What Is Judging? (Part 1)

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Introduction
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Tolerance is on the rise in our society. Everything is relative. There is no absolute morality. People can decide to do both what feels right and what feels wrong. "Everyone [does] what [is] right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). One of the arguments that secular society makes against Christians is that they are judgmental or intolerant. Judgement happens when Christians make a response against a behavior or a lifestyle that God hates and sees as sin (Proverbs 6:16-19; Romans 1:18-32). And ironically, those who judge Christians are already considered "judgmental". And ironically, those who put Christians on the pedestal of intolerance also make themselves out to be intolerant. 

Do Christians have the right to judge? On what basis? Judging seems to be a taboo word in our society. What gives them the right to judge? In this part, I want to specifically talk about what is good judgement and what is bad judgement, according to the teaching of the Bible. 
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What The Bible Says
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Matthew 7:1-5
Verse 1 should be crowned as the most cited and the most misinterpreted verse in history by Christians and non-Christians, I think. "Judge not, that you be not judged" (ESV) or "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (NIV). When people/Christians make a judgement, the other party would respond, "Hey, don't you dare judge me or else you too will be judged." 

In the given context, the passage does not teach that we should rule out judgement. It teaches us what is appropriate and inappropriate judgement. Inappropriate judgement is when a person judges out of hypocrisy, self-righteousness or pride. Jesus does rule out prideful or self-righteous judgement that views oneself as better than others. 

Jesus is not teaching us to forbid all evaluation or even judgment of others, for we are told to recognize and discern the fruit of others (Matthew 7:16-20). Appropriate judgement happens when, ultimately, the one who feels humbled and sees his/her own sin can lovingly help remove the “speck” from others.
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Conclusion
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The lesson that we want to take away is to pray and ask God to help us make appropriate judgement, as the next passage teaches us about prayer (7-11). We are also instructed to pray and discern the fruit of false teachers (15-19). Ultimately, it is not our job to judge someone's eternal destiny because that is God's job. 

It is right to examine ourselves first and repent of our sins before we pluck the "speck" from the other person's eye. 

Pain And Strive In Reading Jeremiah

Never have I thought, by the grace of God, I would read Jeremiah again. Some of my friends say I have the gift of knowledge, in which specifically to recall Scripture reference and know the Bible a lot. I take that as a compliment. I just spoke on knowledge because I remember the horror and pain and strive in reading the book of Jeremiah the prophet. I do not mean the book is hard and dull to read, and I have to wrestle with the dull passages. What I really mean, is the emotional impact that it gave me when I read the horrendous evil and the atrocity that the Israelite had committed in the history of Jews.

Jeremiah the prophet was called into ministry by God as a youth to prophecy to the nation of Judah. The time that he was called was during the last couple of kings before Babylon came and invade Jerusalem in 586 BC. Jeremiah saw the atrocity and he saw how Jerusalem was destroyed. And he was persecuted and throw into torture for prophesying against Judah and telling them to repent. Again and again throughout the book of Jeremiah, there is sin after sin after sin, and nobody repented. Because Judah's sin, God's unleashes His wrath and cast judgement upon Jerusalem. At the same time, there is a promise, a new covenant, and hope being made in the middle of Jeremiah, but I'm not going to talk about that in this post. Read these passages and get a feel for Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 2:12-13

Jeremiah 3:1

Jeremiah 3:6-8

Jeremiah 4:22-26

Jeremiah 5:3

Jeremiah 7:30-31

Jeremiah 10:14-15

Jeremiah 11:7-8

I'm usually a long reader, so I read a chunk of chapters during my devotion. Absorbing what the Word of God says, I feel overwhelmed, emotional, and about to tear up. Most of the time, I think, when Christians read the Old Testament, they mock, tease, insult the Israelite for being stupid and wonder why they would not repent and turn to God knowing that they would be judged. Christians, remember what the Apostle Paul said:

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

(1 Corinthians 10:11)

They were written down for our instruction. Why? So that we too won't fall into the same idolatry as they did. They were examples for us as to the consequence of idolatry. So too during the Jeremiah's time, the Jews whore after other gods like Baals and abandoning Yahweh.

We too are as sinful as they were. We are no different. In this society, the temptation to fall into idolatry is everywhere. We worship and praise something or someone other than God Himself. For me, reading Jeremiah helps me to also see that I am also a sinner and I am also an idolater, but Christ has redeemed me and saved me. And my old self is put away and I am a new creature in Christ. Because of what Christ through His death and resurrection, and when we die to sin and become alive in Christ, we can to put to death what is earthly (Colossians 3:5). Christians, let me urge you to reading the book of Colossians and understand the impact the gospel makes in a believer's life.