two more reasons why it is wrong to judge others…

here are a couple more reasons why it is wrong to judge other people…

it’s wrong to judge others when you draw conclusions based on outward appearance. 

in john 7.24 (niv) JESUS says, stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.

we tend to make our impression of people in about 15 seconds and most of that is in the way that they look.  we judge people, we size them up, by their face, clothing, hairdo.  if you judge just on the basis of appearance, that’s unwise.

1 samuel 16.7 (niv).  samuel said this when he chose david, the runt of the family to be king of israel.  others were saying, “not david!  that scrawny kid!  he’s nothing.  the other brothers are the sharp ones!”  but samuel said, GOD doesn’t look at the appearance.  GOD looks at the heart.

and then it’s wrong to judge when you condemn somebody before you hear the facts.

john 7.50 (niv), nicodemus who had gone to JESUS earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, (talking to the sanhedrin) “does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”

that’s a rhetorical question.  the obvious answer is, “no”.  it’s wrong to judge when you condemn somebody before you hear the facts.  if you study scripture you’ll find that even if your conclusions are right about that person you’re still wrong – because you did it without getting the facts.  there is always more than one side of a story.  there are three sides to a story: your side, their side, GOD’s side.  usually we have partial truth.

just a thought from the front porch…