"Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." - 1 Corinthians 4:5, KJV
Humans are prone to judge others, even when they are guilty of the same sins as the one being judged. Such relish of judging others is really a sin. Not one of us is perfect; we all sin.
In the KJV of 1 Corinthians 4:5 it says, "judge nothing before the time". But translated from the original Koine Greek, as in The Pure Word Bible, it reads: "So that you must not judge anybody before the Special Time, until after whenever the Lord should come.......".
We should endeavor to show love and to help those who may have sinned. A critical and faultfinding and harsh legalistic person does not show love. True, we should not condone sin. We should make every attempt to turn the erring one back to the Lord - to help him to repent and to stop sinning.
By saying "judge nothing" (or "no one"), the apostle teaches one of the leading lessons of Christianity: "not to pass a harsh opinion on the conduct of any man, since there are so many things that go to make up his character which we cannot know; and so many secret failings and motives which are all concealed from us."
There is so much hatred and ill-will found among worldly people. Just read the daily news. Let us not be like that among fellow believers!
As I wrote the above paragraph, the lyrics of that old song came to mind: "What the world needs now is love, sweet love...". And the kind of love we need now is from the good Lord, and shared among believers in Jesus.
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." - Jesus speaking at John 13:34, 35.
We should also exhibit love for the lost and dying souls out there in the world. Jesus Himself told us to go and make disciples of all peoples in the Great Commission found at Matthew 28:19-20.
Let us forget ourselves and our self-interests and go out and show love and empathy for others, telling them about the hope found in Jesus and how His death at Calvary made the way so that they can have eternal life if they but have faith and believe that Christ is the Savior. Of course, also teach them that they must repent of their sins, put their former way of life behind them, and pray for forgiveness and direction from the good Lord.
Remember, the destiny of no one will be decided by the opinions of people; but the doing of all will be fixed by God.
Let us focus on our Christian walk and how we may live so as to please God. Pray for the Lord to increase our love for others, and that we may have a servant's heart.
It is all about love!
Following is a short 4 minute audio sermon of the words of J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) on the subject of not judging others rashly and hastily.
"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." - Jesus at Matthew 7:1-2
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." - 1 John 4:7
"And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." - 1 John 3:23
Have a blessed and Christ centered weekend.....and life!
