Don't Judge Another Persons Journey

Theology is only kept pure if we do not base it on experiences. And so we cannot change our belief in God's Word because of any experience we have had. The Word of God is our standard, our filter, our anchor.

But things do happen in our lives which are not addressed in God's Word or are not clarified to the extent that we can make difinitive decisions about them.

If God's Word speaks neither for those experiences nor against them, then they can become an acceptable part of your journey, but we never make them a part of our core belief system.

We must make an area for these experiences in our lives. They are more like Permanant Residents or Green Card holders but not Citizens. They are always subject to deportation if they ever get out of alignment with Kingdom Law which is God's Word.

With that in mind, we have to not only allow for these experiences in our lives, but in the lives of others as well.

It is very easy to judge another persons journey and to become like a movie critic, evaluating and forming opinions about their life from a distance. Giving them a thumbs up or a thumbs down rating in our mind. Things get even more out of hand when we start sharing these opinions with other people. I think you already know this, but that's called gossip.

Luke 6:31 (NIV)

"Do to others as you would have them do to you."

We should apply this principal even to the way we talk about or think about other people.

Legalistic judgmentalism and gossip is one of the most prevelant and destructive sins in the Church today, as it has always been. We don't seem to be making much progress in cleansing our spiritual communities from this. It's to the point that when we find a Church that is more free from it, it is shocking, but in a good way.

We often hold standards over people much in the same way that the Pharicees did in Jesus' time.

Matthew 23:3-5 (NIV)

"3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 "Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;"

What the Bible says must be strictly adhered to. But on all of the subjects in which the Bible does not make distinctions, we must apply wisdom, discernment and grace. How much of what we believe is opinion or comes from tradition or even from culture rather than from pure application of the Word of God? Allot!

So the next time you begin to judge someone because of what they drink or how they entertain themselves, where or who they hang-out with (like the Pharisees did to Jesus), how a person dresses, what they do for a living, how they raise their kids, how they spend their money, what kind of Church they attend, the way they met their fiance or spouse, or the next time you start thinking to yourself that a person is "getting what they deserve" when things go wrong for them, stop yourself. That's not the devil attacking you, that's your own carnal mind bringing you down.

Will you sometimes see things that are clearly wrong according to God's Word?  Yes!  And you should confront those things with firmness and with grace.

If there are those who have a different stance then you do about the debatable issues in the Bible, then you cannot walk with them. But at the same time, you simply cannot waste your time criticizing them or being in competition with them. Let them go their way, and you go yours. Bless them then leave them alone.

Amos 3:3 (NIV)

"Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?"

Don't judge someone else's journey, because if you do, the next journey that may be judged by others could very well be your own.

Luke 6:36-38 (NIV)

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."