As I was driving to work today, I was listening to Matt Chandler, from The Village Church, and he said something that got me thinking:
Our culture loves the law, and justice, and judgment; we love it! How many television shows are built around detectives, or courtrooms, or lawyers? All of the ones that aren’t about doctors. We so love judges and justice, that we literally have shows that are about judges.
Matt Chandler is right. Ever since the dawn of television, there have been shows about law, justice and judgment. From Dragnet to Adam-12 and Law & Order to CSI. Beginning in the 1980′s, shows like The People’s Court took things even further, by bringing the home audience into the courtroom, and that continued on into the twentieth century with shows like Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown. And while those courtroom shows are likely fictional, if you want to see the real thing, just turn to CNN or Fox News and watch the latest media circus……er, trial. We are obsessed with justice and judgment – and yes, the two go hand in hand. Which is why it’s ironic that our culture preaches “Only God can judge you.”
Really?
I get that it’s in reference to moral judgments, but what’s disturbing is when people claim “Only God can judge me” is found in the Bible. And they’re fully prepared to point to Matthew 7:1 to back up their claim; but when we read the verses immediately following, we see Christ is not telling us to not judge, he is telling us to not judge hypocritically. As he says in verse 7: “…take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” We see judgment more clearly in verse 8, where Christ tells us: “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” How are we supposed to know who the dogs and pigs are without proper judgment and discernment? And that’s the key word: PROPER. If we were honest with ourselves and each other, we all judge. Even those who have “Only God can judge me” tattooed on their body judge people on a daily basis. The guy who cut you off in traffic, the person weaving all over the road because they were playing on their phone, the barista at Starbucks who was a little short with you this morning…… what did you think to yourself about them? What did you say to others about them? Did you pray God would bless them? Did you say a little prayer for them? Every time I see a woman walk into my store, wearing stockings for pants and letting it all hang out up top, my first thought isn’t “Oh, what a lovely young woman!” I’m sorry – it just isn’t. The same goes for every rude person I’ve encountered in my life. I’m not thinking, “What a great sense of humor”, or “They’re such a great conversationalist”; I’m usually thinking “What an asshole.” Yet I’m sure I’ve called someone an asshole, when they were just having a bad day. I’m sure I’ve been an asshole to complete strangers, and for no reason, other than fate deemed that they be in my path that day.
The point is, we want judgment, and, I would argue, need judgment. Our obsession with it only shows our craving for it. The problem is too many of us judge unrighteously. When we start to take into account our own failed, sinful, broken lives, we might find righteous judgment.
