yeah you!

I’m thinking about this speck in the eye again and its really bugging me. I’ve been studying the book of James with my wife and a couple of friends, and I was struck between the eyes (I’ve got a speck in one and a log in the other) by this statement in chapter 4:
“But you – who are you to judge your neighbor?”
I could see this big finger pointing right in my face . . . “yeah you!”

How easily I let myself off the hook on this judgment thing.

I don’t judge anybody . . . . . . . . “yeah right!”

I was on the phone a few nights ago with a friend who had been pretty angry with me over some comments I made last weekend. I had challenged him about some things in his life, and it didn’t go well. As we talked it through, I was still feeling justified in having confronted him, and was glad to hear that he was getting over his anger at me. But then, once again, I saw the finger and heard the words . . . “yeah you!”

What got me was when he said, “Nick, I wish you could come and spend just one day in my shoes.” Both he and I knew that it was impossible. But the statement resounded within me, like a gong that has just been struck with a big wooden hammer. I can’t spend a day or even a moment in his shoes. I don’t know what its like to be bipolar, or what its like to live with the unfortunate side-effects of mood stabilizing medication or anti-depressants. I have not lived through his life experiences, and am entirely unaware of the influence that they exercise over his thinking and his view of himself. I don’t interact with many of the people that he does, and am ignorant to the stresses and the joys that come from his relational network. I am clueless about the particular work that the Spirit of God is up to in his heart, and know very little about all the transforming work that has already taken place in him since he first believed in Christ for salvation.

BUT YOU – WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?!?!

Does this mean that there is no place for confronting one another in love? Not at all. We see much evidence of the biblical writers confronting people over sin, and even challenging professing believers to test themselves to see if they are in the faith. BUT! I am mindful of a passage that comes a bit earlier in James, chapter 2 verses 12 and 13, which says:

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGEMENT! WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?

As I reflect on this striking statement, I am sobered by the realization that I engage in far more judgment that I would like to admit. Much of it will never escape my mouth, but it is there wallowing around in the mud-pits of my heart and mind. No doubt, it comes somewhat naturally to me and to most people, I would imagine. Often it can happen without any conscious mental effort on my part.

So what do I do about it? I need my Savior to come and bulldoze away the mud-pits so that judgmental thoughts have no place to wallow. I don’t want judgment to feel at home in my heart and mind. I want the Spirit of God to fill my heart with the fertile soil of His Word. I want the green pastures of God’s mercy to be widespread in my inner being, leaving no place for mud-loving creatures to settle down.

MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGEMENT!

. . . “yeah you!”

My God, I confess that I am prone to judgment. Forgive me for often forgetting that “there is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” Fill my heart and mind with your mercy, and may that mercy spill over into the lives of those who cross my path today. Amen.