I was 18 when I finally surrendered to Christ.  You know what convinced me (although I didn’t actually admit to myself that I was convinced until later when I’d discovered I had a new heart awakened to truth and joy)?  It was that a couple of Christians were more upset about all the judgmental people who professed Christ than I was.  They were upset because they knew Jesus was getting a bad rap.  While I was flipping through His rap sheet.

All of us have experienced some kind of judgment from those who profess to be Christians.  (Honestly, it’s one of the things that makes it terrifying for a genuine Christian to call sin “sin”.  We don’t want to be allotted with all those “judgmental Christians” so we err in the opposite direction).  Even I, a pastor’s wife and a passionate follower of the Way for almost 28 years, was judged a few days ago because I legally changed my name.  I get that a lot.  It’s dumb!  I also get judged because part of the story of the name change involves the Lord speaking to me, and it sounds a little too Pentecostal for most of the Baptists in the room (I am a Baptist, by the way).

If critical people weren’t going to judge me for that, I’m sure they could find something else.  I don’t color in the lines very well, so it’s easy to find something to judge me for. Jesus got a lot of criticism, too.  In fact, He got killed for hanging with the wrong crowd and healing on the Sabbath and such.

I was reading in John 8 today, where Jesus is talking to the Pharisees.  It’s important to note this is who He was talking to because they were a) the staunch religious leaders, and b) the only ones He called “white washed tombs full of dead men’s bones” and things of the like.  Jesus was pretty straightforward with them.  In verses 15 and 16 (in the ESV), He says “You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge but I and the Father who sent me.”

Here, Jesus is referencing two types of judgments.  I will call these “condemnation” and “discernment”.  There are times where we must say, “Hey, you know that belief/sinful action you are clinging to is contrary to the Bible” and it will actually be an act of love for us to say it.  It will be discernment, and it will involve much prayer and brokenness on our part before we ever bring these words to our brother/sister/friend.  However, dear Christian, if you are not attuned to what the Bible says, this will never be the case with you because the Word of God is the sharper-than-any-two-edged Sword that pierced hearts, soul, bones and marrow.  Not you!  This type of discernment will not exist if you are more preoccupied with the sins of others than your own.  It will not come because you want it to.  And it will not come to pass if you are not reading, cherishing, and following the Bible yourself.

If you are ambitious for this to happen, you are being judgmental!  In fact, if you are ambitious for discernment about the lives of OTHERS, you are probably a judgmental person!  The prophets lived a hard life of isolation because they had to call out sin.  They didn’t do it because it made them feel good about themselves, but because they were called by God.  When I was a younger Christian, I thought I needed to be some sort of spiritual Policeman (but only to those inside the Church).  It was awful!  I was judgmental and chased people away.  I’ve since learned I can be a lot more help to others if, instead of dissecting their spiritual life, I am more concerned with my own, and allow the Holy Spirit to do the work of convicting both of us.

I once heard someone say “A holy man sees more sin in his own life than in anyone else’s”.  This was actually very hard to hear due to the fact that there is almost no one who has sinned against me more than the person who said it.  I was in the midst of fighting bitterness in my own heart against this particular man.  Yet his words were true and holy, and in that moment I had two choices… reject the words because of the messenger, or receive them and allow them to produce humility and holiness in me.  In fact, they probably produced MORE holiness and humility in me because of where they came from… it was a hard-won receiving, and took humility and holiness just to absorb the words!

The Pharisees, and unfortunately many professing Christians find it very easy to pick apart everyone else’s life, but not so easy to assess their own.  In Luke 7, Jesus is engaging with a Pharisee and a sinner woman.  Go, read the story.  It’s good, and I am not going to share all the details when the Bible says it better.  In this passage, Jesus tells the Pharisee that “he who is forgiven little loves little.”  We could also say he who doesn’t recognize the depth of his forgiveness won’t have as deep a love for the One who forgives.

The longer I walk with Jesus, and the more I read His Word to know about Him, the deeper my love for Him grows.  When I was first saved in 1997, I was forgiven for A LOT!  I was a violent, deadly train wreck, turned on its side, spilling toxic chemicals all over the ground!  But now, after 28 years, I realize I am forgiven for much more than that.  I am forgiven for all the wayward thoughts, backbiting words, wasted moment, the complaining and selfishness and disdain for the gifts I’ve received.  I bite the Hand that feeds me daily, hourly, moment-by-moment, yet He keeps right on feeding me!  I am one who is forgiven much!

Being a Christian, by definition, means we are forgiven much (if we are truly a Christian)!  The problem is, there are many who profess Christianity, yet seem more preoccupied with what they judge to be sin in everyone else’s lives, rather than seeking their own purification and intimacy with God.  This exposes a disbelief in the power of the cross in our lives.  The cross is a testifier that we all desperately need a kind of forgiveness we could, in no way, acquire on our own.  If you are far too preoccupied with what’s going on in everyone else’s life, maybe it’s time to just sit at the foot of the cross, and let it work it’s wonders in your soul.

Tragically, there are quite a lot of people who feel like I did B.C., and are rejecting Jesus because of all the judgmental people wearing Christianity like it’s merely a Name Badge stuck to their shirt.  Or who are laying stumbling blocks like I was, as an immature, burdened Christian, thinking it was my moral obligation to point out all that was out of alignment in my brother’s and sister’s lives.  If either of these two camps of people describe you, I’d  encourage you to camp out at the foot of the cross.  I’d also remind you that “a holy man sees more sin in his (or her) own life than in anyone else’s”!

Because the world needs more Christians, for sure, but it needs the kind whose faces have become radiant with Shekinah Glory from spending his or her days fellowshipping with Christ, reveling in His grace, and basking in the warmth of His smile!