Do not judge because I am the Judge, not you.
Do not judge because your quick judgement cuts you off from my flow of goodness and mercy.
Do not judge because I am the positive, creative one; your negativity cuts you from me.
Do not judge because you are not that smart; you see only in part.
Do not judge because your own experiences colour your sight.
Do not judge because you see men’s public failures, but not their secret victories, the hidden good they did, or the hidden evil they stopped short of.
Do not judge because you know nothing of people’s shaping, crippling childhoods.
Avoid those snap, imperfect judgements.
They shut you off from opportunities to learn, to see and to be kind.
Remain open. Ask me to let you see people as I see them–and as they really are.
Do not judge because your judgement is confining. People will find it hard to transcend it.
Do not judge because Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and you do not want to resemble him.
Do not judge. Keep your mind open in mercy; don’t snap it shut in judgement.
Do not judge, because this is an inexorable law I have set in motion: In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
As you wish for mercy, offer it. As you wish to be assessed kindly, do not judge.
* * *
But Jesus, assessing people is a life-skill. I would be a sheep among wolves if I did not know how to read people.
When you must assess people—look at the fruit of their lives. Their children are a testimonial; how they treat those less important than themselves; the peacefulness of their demeanour; how they respond to reverses, and to their enemies; the things they value; the tensile strength of their relationships.
* * *
But use your tendency to swift, harsh judgment as a means of growth. See if you do the same thing. When the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eyes bothers you, see if you have a plank in your own eye.
Ask my help to remove it.
So will you use your instinctive tendency to judgement to grow, and to transcend your own weaknesses (which, ironically, will, often be in the very area in which you so swiftly judge).
Invite me into your eyes so that you will be able to see people as I see them. Invite me into your mind, as that you will be able to read people as I do.