The Weight of Judging Others

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2)

Most of us are familiar with the verses in Matthew about taking the log out of our own eye, and we know we shouldn’t judge, but do we really understand the weight of judging others?

The life of King David is one of my favorite studies, and as I was reading last week, I realized that one of David’s encounters shows us very clearly what can happen when we judge others. David had an affair with Bathsheba, who was married to Uriah, and she became pregnant with his child. David arranged to have Uriah put on the front line of battle to be killed and took Bathsheba as his wife. This was evil in the sight of the Lord.

The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David, and Nathan told David a story which the Lord gave him to speak.

“There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 

Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” (2 Samuel 12:1-4)

That story would upset any animal lover, but it especially affected David. As a former shepherd, he tenderly loved and cared for his sheep, so this hit him directly in the heart. Scripture tells us that David’s anger burned against the rich man. David said the man deserved death, and must pay for the lamb four times over.

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! " –2 Samuel 12:7

I get goosebumps when I read that. I can only imagine the weight David felt as he realized what he had done—I imagine shame overtook him and a healthy dose of fear.

After all, David was a man after God’s own heart, yet one compromise caused a devastating chain of consequences in motion.

That's the thing about compromise: it has a domino effect. We may think a sin is isolated and hidden and won’t affect anyone else, but that is a clever lie from the enemy.

The consequences of sin can be far-reaching — especially when we judge others for the very things we ourselves do.

Not recognizing himself in Nathan's story, David was quick to pronounce severe judgment on another man, while remaining blind to the greater sin in his own life. It was made clear that David’s sin had actually shown utter contempt for the Lord. The Lord took away his sin and said he would not die, but the consequences would indeed be severe. I don’t know about you, but for me, it is frightening to contemplate.

Why is judging others so wrong? The Greek word for "to judge" means passing judgement on someone or condemning them. Romans 2:1 warns us that when we judge one another, we condemn ourselves when we are guilty of the same things.

I think not forgiving someone is one of the biggest ways we can judge them — and it carries with it the most severe consequence. Jesus said if we don't forgive others, our Father in Heaven can't forgive us (Matt. 6:14-16). Unforgiveness is a slow poison, that will ultimately destroy us if we don't submit it to the Lord.

I’ve always thought of myself as a very non-judgmental person, and people who know me would probably agree. I figure, we can never truly know what we would be capable of given circumstances that we’ve never had to walk through. But I thought of some questions we could all reflect upon:

• Do I judge people when they have mistreated me or my loved ones?

  
  

• Do I judge people I don’t know when they have cut me off on the road?

  
  

• Have I judged a celebrity or a political figure?  

You may be thinking that some people do terrible things, and they deserve punishment.

But we need to learn to separate people from their sins.

We can exercise right judgment by recognizing the fruit produced in a person’s life (Matt. 7:16–20). That is discernment. We can judge whether an action or behavior is sinful according to God’s Word without condemning the person or presuming to know their motives—only God knows the heart.

We are all sinners who need forgiveness and mercy. And every single one of us is valuable in God's eyes. So rather than being judgmental toward others, let us be transformed by the renewing of our mind, so we might know the good, pleasing and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:2)