Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  2024  Day 64

March 4;        Romans 2:1;         119/260;        ‘Judge Not’

Romans 2:1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

Those who are not yet born again are often in the practice of judging others.  Looking at the actions of others, who do improper things, often gives the one judging an erroneous sense of ‘holier than thou.’  The lost, trying to justify in their own mind that they are not as bad as others, are still unaware that it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (verse 4).  If anyone has the right to judge us it is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He has determined not to judge us, but to love us, forgive us and bless us when we turn to Him and accept Him as our Lord and Savior.  The nature of those who are not yet born again is pride and pride always exalts itself and the expense of others.  The simple truth is that there is ‘none righteous, no not one’ (Romans 3:10).  Once we accept the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we still have to discipline our mind so that we do not judge others.  When we become born again, our new nature is love, the love of God.  His love ‘is ever ready to believe the best of every person,’ (I Corinthians 13:7 Amplified Bible).  You can make the decision not to judge anyone.  What a preferable way to live.  As we mature in the things of the Lord, we can see very clearly in the Bible that since Jesus does not judge us and He is our Example, we do not ever have the right to judge anyone else.  Our goal is to be respected by fellow believers and conduct ourselves in a manner that they desire to copy.  Criticism of others, in the presence of the lost causes them to blaspheme Jesus’ Name because of us.  Refuse to judge, you can.