Why Must We Judge?

He committed adultery. She murdered her neighbor. He beats his wife. She lost her kids after the police arrested her for methamphetamine use. These people are HORRIBLE people…..…and they are just like us. The Bible says that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. We are ALL sinners, so why is it that we are so quick to judge? Our society puts a ranking on sin, our God does not. It may be murder, or it may be a lie. It may be adultery, or it may be the way we talk to a friend when we are angry. Obviously the consequences are different, and they should be. But a sin is a sin no matter how “big” or “small” we may think that it is.

As Christians, we are called to be Christ-like. How would Christ treat the drug addict? How would He treat the wife beater, or the murderer? Look at how he treated the adulteress woman. How would our world be different if we all adopted the “he who is without sin cast the first stone” attitude? When we recognize that we are all sinners, and we take away the “sin rating system” that our culture has adopted, the fact still remains: WE ALL NEED FORGIVENESS AND GRACE. I believe whole-heartedly that when we treat people with respect and grace (regardless of the sin in their life), they are able to see Jesus through us. It may be that if just ONE person shows love in spite of what “the sinner” has, or hasn’t done, their entire life could change for the better.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that we should condone crimes. I just think that we need to remember that a crime as defined by our government is a bad thing, but so is a crime (sin), as defined by God. We want God and others to look at us with mercy, grace and forgiveness. We need to be willing to do the same.