by Julie Purswell
Last week I had the honor of introducing you to my struggle with sinful judgment—a rather humbling way to get on this blog! But if you can identify with my struggles, I pray you will also derive hope from the grace God has given me in battling this sin over the past few years. That’s what I’d like to explore this week: having examined some of the ways we often judge others, how do we, by God’s grace, put sinful judgment to death?
Battling any sin requires that we address its underlying roots and not merely its outward displays. Here are three roots that I’ve found often fuel my own uncharitable judgment:
• Arrogance: From Edwards’s book I learned that when I judge and condemn others, inevitably I am doing so out of pride and arrogance toward them. I am setting myself up as lord and judge; they answer to me, my standards, and my assessment. So I become their judge–instead of a fellow servant who’s called to love and serve them.
Paul’s words provide a stinging indictment to such arrogance: “Who are you that judges another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls” (Rom. 14:4). God is the only rightful judge, and the thought of His perfect righteousness and unchallenged sovereignty should hold us back from daring to judge or censure our fellow human beings.
Now it’s easy for me to talk about arrogance, but it helped me to look it up in the dictionary in order to get my arms around it. Here’s what The Encarta® World English Dictionary has to say about arrogance:
Arrogance: “A strong feeling of proud self-importance that is expressed by treating other people with contempt or disregard. An offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride.” (Isn’t that lovely?)
“. . . proud self-importance . . . treating other people with contempt or disregard . . . . superiority . . .”—now that will lead to uncharitable judgment!
We think we know. We make assumptions about the motivations and circumstances of others. We then invest those assumptions with unquestioned authority. And in an instant, we have taken on the role of God, who alone truly knows the motivations of the heart.
• Selfish Cravings: We are simply consumed with ourselves. Self-centered thoughts, selfish desires, selfish ambition; we want our way, we want attention, we want—well—glory! And so we’re consumed with our favorite subject: me! “How will I be affected?” “How do I appear?” “How will my needs be met?” Me, me, me, me, me. In the words of one comedian, we become the “Me Monster”!
Few verses have brought greater clarity to me in this area than James 4:1-2: “What causes fights among you (and my husband says we could add ‘judgments that cause these fights’)? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” Usually, it really is that simple—and in the turmoil of my swirling feelings, I need this simple truth.
• Bitterness: Like food coloring in a glass of water, bitterness taints everything we see. When we fail to forgive others, holding their past sins over their head, we will inevitably judge them uncharitably. Bitterness places everything about them in the worse possible light. We hear their words, we interpret their actions, we assume their motives all through the distorting lens of our bitterness.
In a context that deals with judging and anger and conflict, James provides us with more convicting counsel: “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” (James 3:14-15).
How ironic – we can be so focused on what we perceive as another’s wrong when we are the ones aligning ourselves with the devil and his agenda.
Perhaps there are others, but these are roots of sinful judgment that I’m most familiar with. It is convicting to examine just what is going on in our hearts when we sinfully judge others, but that very conviction is the beginning of authentic change. So let’s turn now to the remedy—what can we do to put this sin to death?
The first step won’t surprise you; it’s not complicated, but it is critical.
• Humble Repentance in light of the Gospel.
It wasn’t enough for me simply to see these things; God made it clear (as He always does) that I had to turn from these things.
Ladies, note that I say “humble repentance.” With this sin in particular, humility is crucial. By definition, when I judge someone, I am exalting my opinion; I am setting myself up as judge; and my perspective can’t be challenged.
Repentance therefore requires that I relinquish my authority as “infallible judge,” letting go of my pride and arrogance, my certainty that “I know.” But when I acknowledge such arrogance for what it is, God’s word promises the grace of godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Cor. 7:10).
As God opened my eyes to this way of thinking and relating, I was pierced to the heart. I realized I have spent much of my life judging people and responding to them out of those judgments. As painful as this realization was, it was actually a tremendous mercy, for it produced godly sorrow and authentic repentance I could not have manufactured on my own.
Of course, biblical repentance is repentance in light of the gospel. This sin was so pervasive in my life that I would have despaired if it weren’t for the knowledge that Jesus died for sins like these. So, facing my sin squarely should first take me to the cross. Never does the gospel sound so sweet as when I am drowning in my sins.
Thomas Watson wrote, “A broken heart and a broken Christ do well agree. The more bitterness we taste in sin, the more sweetness we shall taste in Christ.”
Besides revealing to me this pattern of judging, this process has effected something even more powerful in my life. It’s made me more grateful for the decisive, unchanging, irrevocable salvation Christ provided on the cross. My battle with sinful judgment has taken me again and again to the gospel as I rehearse and declare to my soul precious truths about the cross:
• The cross tells me that God is holy.
• The cross tells me that I am not.
• The cross shows me what my sin deserves.
• The cross shows me that what my sin deserves fell on another.
• The cross shows me that God’s wrath is satisfied.
• The cross shows me that the power of sin is broken.
• Because of His death on my behalf, I stand clothed in His righteousness.
• Because of the cross there is a throne I can approach with confidence; a throne of grace where I can go to find mercy and help in my time of need.
Although I deeply regret the many occasions I’ve judged those I love, my regret pales in comparison to the new appreciation for grace God has worked in my heart. If you find yourself identifying with my sin, my prayer is that you will also experience a fresh awareness of the forgiveness and freedom that awaits us when we bring our sin to One who died for it.
Well, after forgiveness, what? Next week, we’ll talk about that.
