Passing judgement

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.” Romans 2:1
I don’t know about you, but I find that I am constantly catching myself judging other people. I guess it’s part of our sinful human nature. We judge people based on their looks, their fashion sense (or lack thereof), their education. While the Bible calls us to be discerning – which by definition means making a judgement – we are also told not to judge others, or else we will be judged by the same standard (Matt. 7:1-2).
We can judge the fruit in people’s lives, but we must never make a judgement as to whether they are saved or not, or judge someone’s motives. Those are things of the heart, which only God knows. If we do judge, we only expose ourselves. Paul tells us this in today’s verse. We are always much more sensitive to the sins that we commit ourselves, especially when it comes to judging someone’s motives. Our own sin always looks much worse when other people do it. ‘Look at them raising their hands in church – they’re only doing it to get noticed.’ Are you thinking this because of pride – because you’d like to be noticed? ‘Look at them talking to the pastor – they’re trying to butter him up.’ Again, we mustn’t judge people’s motives. Instead, give them the benefit of the doubt, take every judgemental thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5), and get on with serving and praising God yourself. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Rom. 14:4).