Growing up in the township of Khiwane, in Port Elizabeth, as a young teenager, one of my musical heroes was the late American rapper, 2Pac. One of his trademark songs was “Only God can judge me”. I still believe in the truthfulness of this statement, perhaps more now than I did then. And I know many other people believe it as well, especially when they are on the receiving end of judgement from others. But how easy it is to forget it when we are the ones tempted to pass judgement on other’s moral behaviour, choices, preferences, etc. Perhaps it is better to change it into “Only God should judge”. For the next two postings I would like to discuss why I believe we should not judge other people, and then on the third posting of this series, I will then share one strategy that should help us as we are fighting the temptation to judge others.
Why should we not judge? Firstly, because Jesus, Himself, categorically warns us against doing it in Matthew 7, verse 1. Is it not interesting that the only time God will allow us to pronounce on someone’s eternal destiny is when we are in Heaven, having been made new first, according to 1 Corinthians 6:2,3? That means that we would be like Him. The problem with leaving judgement of another person’ salvation in each other’s hands, on this side of eternity, is that we are all humans. And, humans, by definition, have limitations; they do not have the complete picture, which is only God’s prerogative, until we have been first created new. And, until then, it is safe to leave the act of judgment to God.
Unlike us, humans, God knows everything about each of us. He knows our entire past, our entire future, and He even knows our motives. That means that, unlike us, when God judges people, He considers more than just their actions, but He also considers where they come from; the kind of home they come from, our inherited and cultivated makeup, our childhood experiences, everything about the person’s yesterday. He also considers who they could be tomorrow. So, He not only looks at where they are now, but where they can be after the particular action. And the third consideration God makes is the person’s motives. The truth is that it is possible to do good from bad motives, and vice versa. It is this omniscience that makes God a just judge. And no human knows all there is to know about another person’s past, not to mention their future and their motives. So, this limitation should humble us into being very reluctant to pass judgement on another person. We are only human. We do not know all there is to know about the person we are judging. Each person is infinitely more than their behaviour and actions or lack thereof.
