What happens when I judge? I have seen and felt cases of judgment and having been judged by others, my eyes were opened to the seriousness of judging. I see why Jesus tells us not to judge others. I also see why Jesus does not judge in an immediate fashion like we often think He should. “Why does He put up with it?” we ask.
Judgment stops time. If we wait until death, death stops time. Jesus is all about life, not death. If at any point I judge you, I have to declare the trespass and malfunction as of that point in time. I then pass judgment on you and justify the sentence of death I declare over you. You are now expelled from my kingdom and dead to interaction and connection with me. I go on as if you do not exist. You may have repented and are no longer living in malfunctions. However, to me you are dead as of the time I judged you…. WoW
Jesus doesn’t operate that way. He didn’t judge people while He was here on earth, but continually called to them to turn from the trespasses that were slowly killing them. It is only after my physical death that there will be a day of judgment. As a follower of Jesus I am told to not judge, but to always love, and to bring hope and life to our relationships. Jesus is the only one who has our days numbered and after that will be my day of judgment.
So… Why do so many people judge? And Christian people? One of the most common forms of judgment is divorce. The answer is primarily because the majority of physical adults are relational infants and children. For these children, being good is all about the rules. You broke the rules so you need punished and I must be the judge and jury because God is too slow. The child points the finger at the other child and says, “you are bad, you hurt me by breaking the rule, so I will sue you and kill you relationally.” In looking at this, we see that the judgment stands forever by the person who judged. Time has to stop or the story may continue with the person still alive and not under that judgment by God. I have often wondered how this is going to be reconciled in heaven? I am going to be living next to the person I judged for eternity.
The one thing I do know is that I am not to judge. That is God’s job and he looks at the heart, not at whatever action it was. I must have my relational circuits on with a sphere of love for all who hurt me and break the rules. I am already under condemnation if I do not accept Jesus as my Savior, so who am I to condemn others? There have been a couple of times where the Holy Spirit stopped me from expelling an individual from my sphere of loving influence. I was told that He would remove that person when it was time. And He did. And later He brought one back to me who had been responding to His Spirit.