Judging others

“Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.” 1 Corinthians 4:5
Have you noticed how easy it is to judge other people? No wonder the Bible reminds us, time and time again, not to judge but to leave the judgement to God. This is because we are frequently unable to draw a line between judging someone’s actions, and judging their motives. The Bible says we are to judge actions: if someone claims to be a Christian but is indulging in sinful behaviour, we do have Scriptural authority to confront that person about what they are doing. What we are not to do is judge their hearts, saying, ‘They can’t be a Christian, if they are doing that.’ Only God knows our hearts and our motives behind doing something. We see someone doing nothing to help others, and think, ‘That person just wants to sit there and have other people do everything for them.’ We see someone who goes out of their way to do good, and think, ‘They’re only doing that to show off.’
Jesus faced similar judgement from the Pharisees: “For John the Baptist can neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ‘sinners’.’ But wisdom is proved right by all her children” (Luke 7:33-35).
So we must be careful not to judge people’s motives. Only God knows what they are; we can only guess – and it’s better not to judge at all than to judge wrongly. It will all come out in the wash in eternity. In the meantime, we should always give people the benefit of the doubt, and leave the judging to God.