Discernment Not Judgment

It is so common, when one person points out a failure or sin of another, to be rebuffed with a biblical injunction not to judge.  Even if, and I thnk especially if, the one being criticized is not a Christian and otherwise pays no attention to. the Bible.  Do not judge, is the one bit of Bible everyone seems to have memorized.

However, as is so often true with those that are not given to studying the Bible in order to understand what God would have them do in favor of picking out a bit here and there to support their preconceived notions, they have misinterpreted and misused the passage.

I Luke 6:37, Jesus indeed commands, "Do not judge," but that is only a fraction of what he says in that passage.  He follows that command with, "Do not condemn...Forgive...Give...for with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (vv. 37-38).  And then he goes on to say, "Each tree is recognized by its own fruit...A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil...for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

The rest of the story is that while we are not to judge in an attempt to condemn as our mission is to reach out to the lost not push them away, we are instructed to discern between good and evil in people by what they do.  This is not to judge the moral state of their heart as only God can do that, it is to discern the moral impact of their choices, both to protect ourselves from bad influences and in order to offer a message of grace and redemption.

If we are going to pray for someone, it is important that we know for what to be praying.  If their life is marked by violence or lust or pride or fear or whatever, we can be praying for their release from those snares of Satan, offer help in overcoming them and protect ourselves from being overly influenced by them or harmed by them.

Unrighteous judgment is meant to condemn and seperate.  Righteous discernment is meant to heal and unite.  One is meant to push away, the other to draw near.  We are not called as judges of our fellowman but we are called as witnesses of God's redemptive love, which forgives those wrongs and calls each of us to come to Him.  Discerning one's distance from God provides the motivation to close that gap by accepting God's offer of grace through Christ.  Jus' Sayn.