Romans 2:1 NIV

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Judging others is a self-righteous pastime.

When we slip away from the knowledge of our brokenness we naturally begin  building ourselves up by identifying the brokenness of others.  In a way we are saying “I am a more righteous person than you.”  If you both fall into the mud and you climb out before the other person,  do you really have the right to say “I am cleaner than you?”  Both are muddy.  The act of judging others produces a stern warning from God.  Just the practice  of identifying sins in other people can highlight that sin in yourself.  And God takes notice.

Actions vs attitudes

Looking again at the list of sins in Romans 1:26-31 there were several action sins (sexual, murder, violence inventor of evil things).  But there were also attitudes (envy, proud, unmerciful, etc).  As we begin to look and judge others as  worse than ourselves are we not guilty of pride, boasting, and being unmerciful?  We can begin to worship the created (us) rather than the creator(God).  We begin to take away from God the honor and thankfulness due Him (Rom 1:21).  We will begin to have futile thoughts of our own righteousness.

Remember the story of the prodigal son?

The hidden story is the second son.  Not the one who ran away with his portion of dad’s inheritance (and dad was not even dead yet).   Not the one who spent all his money on wild parties and pleasures.  Not the son who came back broken and humble.  Not the son who was welcomed back into the family by dad.  I’m talking about the other son who stayed and worked the fields every day.  He obeyed his father.  This son, when he heard the celebration and found out the “sinful” son had come back,  refused to come in and join the celebration. Dad even went out in the field to talk with him but this second son’s judgmental,  selfish, and hardened heart only saw himself as more righteous than his brother .  He only saw his brother as someone who did not deserve forgiveness. This judging hardened his own heart.

There really was two prodigal sons.

The one who sins greatly repented and was forgiven.  The other prodigal son who never left the house(church)…the bible does not say he ever repented.

Do you find yourself judging others?  “They are a bunch of …..”  He or she are very …”

Be careful.  God notices.  He is kind with forbearance and patience for you to repent.  Don’t build up wrath for the day of judgement.  Rather build up thankfulness and be merciful to others. Let us keep our lightnside and our eyes on the knowledge of  what Christ has done for us.