Be Salt & Light Blog | By Jaymi Firestone
Political correctness is rampant in our society. We worry about what to say or not to say. We worry that we are going to offend someone. We worry about telling a story and using terms that are deemed inappropriate. Yet, somehow we still manage to find ourselves in a place of judgement. We see a teenager walking in the mall with a baby and assume it’s hers. We see a man on the corner by Walmart begging for a dollar and assume he is being dishonest. We notice people with tattoos, piercings, and clothing that seems dark, and immediately assume they worship Satan himself. I can’t be the only one who has made assumptions and judgments about other people like that. We may pretend that Christianity blankets us from the political correctness of society, but in reality, we use it as a crutch to stand on when we’ve crossed a line and judged others.
Do you start conversations with love or is it more questioning and accusatory? Jesus started more of his conversations with “Follow me,” than He did with “How dare you?!” He knew the people He came in contact with needed Him more than they needed to be disciplined for their behavior. The key isn’t that we are to sit back and let the bad in the world overcome the good, but rather that we are to be examples of what He is.
Jesus wasn’t telling us that we should be gullible or naive about others, or that we should overlook the reality of human failure and sin — not at all. I don’t believe Jesus was naive about those who claimed to follow Him but in reality couldn’t be trusted. He knew that the people around Him would eventually crucify Him. He knew the world was full of hatred and bitterness. He knew sin was rampant around Him. What Jesus did though was offer an opportunity to change.
Look carefully at Jesus’ actual words: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2). Jesus was only reminding us that God alone is our eternal judge, and we must never think we can take His place.
Some day, we all will stand before Him, and He alone has the power to condemn or save us. He alone is able to see our hearts, and He alone knows whether or not our faith in Christ is real.
Jesus’ words aren’t warning that we shouldn’t see the evil in the world, but that we are to be warned against pride. He was warning against thinking we are better or more righteous than others.
In God’s eyes, we are all guilty, for we have all sinned against Him and turned our backs on His will for our lives. The Bible says, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).This is why we need Christ, for by His death on the cross He took upon Himself the judgment we deserve. So maybe we should stop worrying about the judgment we can offer to others, and focus on the judgment God is going to hand us one day. That should create a sense of urgency inside us to live as close to the way Jesus did as we can, and to share the news of His death and resurrection with everyone we can. We have a get out of jail free card through Jesus, but we have to live up to the grace He is offering, and that starts by living with love as the purpose.
