Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:1-2
More often than not, when we think of sinning, we think of ‘big things’, things that are deemed to cause great distress. I think, it’s all perception; the perception that if someone sins like you, then it’s alright. It’s understandable. A problem only comes in when people sin in a way that you wouldn’t. We never want to accept that both forms of sinning are dire and equal before God’s eyes, and if it’s the same in His eyes, it should be the same in ours as well.
We have become a society that has accepted judging each other as a norm. It’s okay if to judge person A because I have never sinned like that. Person A should be punished for this. It’s so easy to hide behind a pseudo account and write mean judgmental comments about someone, assuming that they deserve it because we aren’t like that.
A few things we may need to understand is that judging others is a sin as dire as any other. In James 4:11-12, James mentions that judging one another is judging the law, and judging the law isn’t keeping it but sitting on it. Sitting on something means that you are yet to deal with it, to delay the solution. Judging someone means that you are not trying to help them be better, which is what we’re supposed to do.
James goes on to ask, who are you to judge your neighbor? What gives you the right to judge another person? Are you without sin? As Jesus asked the Pharisees and teachers of the law when they presented him with a woman caught in adultery. During the earlier days, Moses laws were written and strictly proclaimed that any woman caught committing adultery was to be stoned to death for her sin. Here we see Jesus correcting this law with love by giving the woman a second chance.
Why then do we judge others when we would love to be given a second chance ourselves? We long to be understood and helped through our weaknesses. The woman in this story represents all of us who lie, covet, steal, gossip, take part in sexual sin, accuse others falsely, envy, agreed amongst many other ‘big and small’ sins. Jesus came to give us a chance to repent our sins, do better and help others do the same.
We should strive to judge less and instead help others realize and actualize their chance through Jesus Christ.