John 7:21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Deuteronomy 1:16-17 And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’
Proverbs 17:15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
Isaiah 11:3-4 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
James 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Jesus had healed a cripple who had been an invalid for 38 years. He did this on the Sabbath and the Jewish leaders immediately told the healed man that it was unlawful for him to carry the mat he had been laying on. Jesus brings this up when the Jewish leadership was wondering how Jesus had learning when He had never studied. He tells them that they marvel at this act and then proceeds to tell them that they are not seeing scripture with understanding. It was man-made laws and traditions that resulted in them thinking that healing a cripple on the Sabbath was breaking the law. “Judge with right judgment.” We are all guilty of wrongly judging some on or something. We judge by the action and not the intent. We judge the guy or gal in the car that is going to slow or cuts us off and have no idea what might have distracted that person. Did they just get a phone call with very bad news? Are they heading to the hospital to see someone who is dying? We just don’t know but we judge them guilty of intentionally doing this to us. There are thousands of other examples of how we judge others and much of the time we are judging without the love of God in our hearts and mind. We need to be mindful of how critically we look at others. Maybe it would be good for us to look into the mirror and ask ourselves if we would like to be judged by others the way we judge them. I wonder if we ever take the time to ask God to reveal our true heart to us and seek the Holy Spirit’s to lead us into this insight. We stand before God through Jesus Christ alone. We did nothing to deserve this grace and mercy. And yet, we go about judging others as if we were deserving of redemption, salvation, and forgiveness. When you are humble in thoughts and actions you will find the spirit of Judging will find no place in your heart, mind, and soul