Judgment

Judgment

What Kind of People Are in Your Town?
"Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1). There was once a wise old man sitting at the gate of an ancient city. A young traveler stopped before entering the city and asked the old man, "What kind of people live in this town?" The wise man answered with a question, "What kind of people were in the town you just came from?"
"Oh, they were liars and cheats and thugs and drunks, terrible people," the young traveler replied. The old man shook his head, "The people in this town are the same way."
Later another stranger paused to ask the same question, and again the wise man questioned his questioner, "What kind of people did you just leave?"
The second traveler answered, "Oh, I left a fine town. The people were good and kind and honest and hardworking." The wise man smiled and said, "The people in this town are the same way."
People who are kind and forgiving toward others usually experience tolerance from others themselves; those who are harsh, censorious and critical toward others find that others exhibit much the same disposition toward them.
Of course, when our Lord warned, "Judge not," He was not talking about exposing the sins of the ungodly-we must do that. Neither was He talking about withdrawing from the immoral, or restoring erring Christians, or resolving civil disputes, or "knowing a tree by its fruits." He was forbidding illegitimate judgments that stem from a self-righteous, haughty, puffed-up, hypocritical spirit (Matthew 7:15; Luke 6:37-38; Romans 2:1-3). He was forbidding judgments based on inadequate information (John 7:21-24). He was forbidding judgments in which the person assumes the position of God, trying and sentencing brethren in regard to eternal salvation (Joshua 4:11-12; Romans 14:3-4, Romans 14:10, Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 4:5).
What kind of people live in your town?

Judging Others
A certain preacher had a method of dealing with those people who were critical of others. He kept a complaint book in his desk. When a church member would come to tell him of another's faults he would say, "Well, here is my complaint book. I'll write down what you say, and you can sign your name to it. Then I'll go and take it up with our brother."
Invariably the critic would stammer, backtrack, and insist that nothing be written or signed. In his 40-year ministry that preacher opened his complaint book hundreds of times-but never made a single entry.
How about it? Are you willing to write out and sign the ugly things you have said about others? If not, perhaps it would be best to leave judgment where it belongs-with God. A New Window on the World
Ruth E. Knowlton tells this on herself: "Years ago I lived in an apartment building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine, and I could look across the alley into the apartment on the same floor as mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her as she sat by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading.
"After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her windows were dirty. Everything was indistinct through her smudged windows. I would say to myself, 'I wonder why that woman doesn't wash her windows? They look dreadful!'
"One bright morning I decided to do my spring housecleaning and thoroughly cleaned my apartment, including washing the windows on the inside.
"Late in the afternoon when I was finished, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly visible. Her windows were clean!
"Then it dawned on me. I have been criticizing her dirty windows, but all the time I was observing them through my own dirty ones!"

Preparation for Judgment
Did you hear about the boy who failed all his college work? He wired his mother: "Failed everything; Prepare Papa." His mother wired back, "Papa prepared; Prepare yourself." This is the message a lot of us need in view of the coming judgment. God is prepared. We need to prepare ourselves! The Other Man
Perhaps he sometimes slipped a bit-
Well, so have you.
Perhaps some things he ought to quit-
Well, so should you.
Perhaps he may have faltered-
Why, all men do, and so have I.
You must admit, unless you lie,
That so have you.
Perhaps if we would stop and think,
Both I and you,
When painting someone black as ink,
As some folks do;
Perhaps if we would recollect,
Perfection we would not expect,
But just a man halfway correct,
Like me and you.

Try the Side That Will Shine
There is a kind of crystal called Labrador Spar. At first sight, it is dull and without luster; but if it is turned round and round, it will suddenly come into a position where the light strikes it in a certain way, and it will sparkle with flashing beauty.
People are like that. They may seem to be unlovely, but that is because we do not know the whole person. Everyone has something good in him or her.

Old Ben Putnitoff
Ben Putnitoff was a member of the Lord's church. Morally, he was a good man. He did not lie, curse, drink, beat his wife, or smoke. He paid his income tax, came to Bible class and worship services, paid his bills and gave a "few bucks" to the Lord. He was never opposed to anything that was good.
One day old Ben Putnitoff died and stood before the Righteous Judge. The Judge said, "Ben, you are charged with trying to close the church. Are you guilty or not guilty?"
"Not guilty," pleaded Ben Putnitoff. "I didn't do a thing!"
"Guilty as charged," the Judge ruled. And then He continued, "Ben, you have confessed to the most effective way ever devised of closing the church. You 'did not do a thing.'You did not visit the sick. You did not encourage the weak. You did not feed the hungry. You did not reach out to the lost with the gospel."
"But, Judge," Ben pleaded, "I intended to do all of those things, but I was too busy making a living and enjoying myself. I have just been putting it off."

Jumping to Conclusions
A man sitting at his window one evening casually called to his wife, "There goes that woman Charlie Smith is so terribly in love with." His wife in the kitchen dropped the plate she was drying, ran through the door, knocking over a lamp, looked out the window. "Where, where?" she cried. "There," he said, "that woman in the gabardine suit on the corner." "You idiot," she hissed, "That is his wife." "Yes, of course," he replied.

Snap Judgment
When Gilbert Frankau was producing a play, he sent to a theatrical agency for a young man to play the leading part. After the screen test, Gilbert Frankau telephoned his agent. "This man," he said, "will never do. He cannot act, and he never will be able to act, and you had better advise him to look for some other profession before he starves. By the way, tell me his name again so that I can cross him off my list." The actor's name was Ronald Colman, who became one of the most famous actors the screen has ever known. The Disliked Dislike
A psychologist asked a group of college students to jot down, in 30 seconds, the initials of the people they disliked. Some of the students taking the test could think of only one person. Others listed as many as 14. But the interesting fact that came out of the research was this: Those who disliked the largest number of people were themselves the most widely disliked.

Experience: A Good Teacher
There is an old story of a man in West Virginia who had a reputation for being wise and for giving sound advice. A young person went to him one day and asked, "Uncle Jed, how come you have such good judgment?" "Well, I have good judgment because I have had a lot of experience," he replied. And the boy said, "Yes, but how did you get all that experience?" "Well," the man mused, "I got it by making a lot of bad judgments."
If people have traveled the road before us and can tell us what that road looks like, then we are wise to listen to what they have to say.