People generally oversimplify the biblical instructions about judgment . They read verses like Matthew 7:1 and think Christians are never to judge. But in context, Matthew 7:1 is really talking about judging someone’s heart and motives. We are not supposed to do that. This passage takes place during the Sermon on the Mount. And the whole point of the Sermon on the Mount was to highlight the importance of inner obedience to God.
But notice in Matthew 7:5 Jesus said that after you have addressed your own sin, then you are to actually judge and help other people address their own sin too. While we must not judge someone’s heart, we are to take notice of people’s actions (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).
The dating principle we can form from all this is that you want to trade an overly critical, judgmental spirit for a more realistic set of biblical requirements. In other words, if your requirements for people are stricter than Scripture’s requirements for people, you are making it very difficult for anyone to want to get to know you.Leggi tutto