Remember...God Is the Judge, Not Us!

Chances are you've heard of Westboro Baptist Church, that small, outrageous congregation in Topeka, Kansas, whose members, led by Pastor Fred Phelps, carry signs that say, among other things, “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.”

Phelps’s granddaughter, Megan Phelps-Roper, held those kind of signs when she was a tot, and in recent years she was in charge of Westboro Baptist’s social media strategy—yes, they have one.

In fact, Megan, now 27, was prolific and popular, tweeting up to a hundred messages a day, with a huge following. She was a regular guest on a local morning show, and by all accounts was a somewhat winsome witness for a small congregation with a closed and hate-filled message.

Then suddenly one day last October, Megan’s Twitter account went dark. Well, she turned up the other day, and it turns out she has left Westboro Baptist. It’s been a painful separation from her close-knit community and all she loved and held to be true. Megan says, “I still cry a lot.”

How did one so sheltered and seemingly so confident in her beliefs give them up? Apparently, a very small thing got her mind spinning—a digital social media relationship with a Jewish fellow who quoted Jesus. He said, “If anyone is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”

She was amazed that a Jew was quoting Jesus to show how intolerant Westboro is, and it sent her into a tailspin. It was an obvious point, but Megan was totally unprepared for it. Her case shows that it doesn't take much to shake up a weak and tottering worldview.  - BreakPoint Commentary, February 18, 2013, John Stonestreet

Judging is making a negative evaluation of others without caring for or wanting to help them. It incorporates the use of this type of thinking, "We must judge people in order to fix them and/or in order to make us feel better about ourselves." Thinking that we have to judge people in order to fix them, or set them straight, fails more often than not for 4 reasons:

-It doesn't flow from a heart of love; 
-It can be received as an attack; 
-Deconstruction without reconstruction; 
-Our judgment may be (and often is) wrong; 
-Judging in order to FEEL BETTER about ourselves. 

This is saying that, on one hand, when we judge others, we feel superior to them. Judging puts us on the moral high ground and diminishes those we are judging. Judgmental people either feel the worst about themselves or mostly deny their own weaknesses.

On the other hand, the person that judges will be judged. Also, the manner and to the degree which he judges he will be judged. In other words, the same standards of his judging others will be applied to him. How? We can probably safely assume this includes both people and God judging us.

A Chinese Proverb says, “Do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a hatchet.” 

Obviously the person that is the recipient of this kind of ‘help’ suffers greatly. Moving that illustration into the realm of judging gives us the picture of how damaging our judgments of others can be. And the repercussions in our own lives can be even more damaging.

We need to realize that God is the Judge. Our laying into people and being condemning and harsh with them as if we know their motives and as if we are set so far above them is assuming the throne of judgment that only God can assume. We have no right to this. And our acting like this assumes that we are high and righteous ourselves above all others and worthy to make such harsh judgments on others’ lives.

Are you guilty of the judging Jesus condemned? Do you delight in pointing the fingers at others’ faults while overlooking your own? Do you stink of self-righteousness? Do you point out the sin in others that, if you were honest, is the sin most familiar to you?

Then you need to repent and ask God to help you to quit being harshly critical. You need to ask God to examine your life and remove sin from it. You need to ask God to help you humbly and lovingly to be a spiritual person that helps restore those caught in the web of sin. We need people to hold us accountable, we cannot and must not wink at sin. But we must not devour one another with a self-righteous critical spirit that delights in the faults of others while excusing or denying our own.

Criticizing another person will be called into account at the judgement seat of Christ. We should not be wasting our time by criticizing others. If we turn the searchlight within our own hearts, we will find plenty to keep us humble before the Lord without being occupied with other people. We will have enough to do at the judgement seat of Christ answering for our own behavior without worrying about the actions of others.

If you don’t want to be judged then don’t judge others. If you want heavenly rewards, judge yourself!

Scripture: Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37; John 7:24; James 4:11-12; James 4:12; Romans 2:1-3; Ephesians 4:29; Matthew 7:5; Matthew 7:1-2; Luke 6:31; James 1:26; John 3:17

Prayer: Guide me lord, you are my heart you are my strength, you are my hope. Teach me Lord, and guide my way I love you more each passing day.

-special thanks to Greg Tabor 

May God bless you always,

Amy Lynn