Judge With Right Judgment
“Has not Moses given you the law. Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me. Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
John 7:19-24
The religious leaders were furious with Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. Yet those same leaders would perform circumcision on the Sabbath when the law required it. Jesus points out their inconsistency. They used the law selectively, applying it strictly when it benefited their pride and loosely when it suited their convenience. This was not simple hypocrisy. It was the deeper issue of an unexamined heart. They valued the appearance of righteousness more than the pursuit of truth.
Jesus calls His listeners to something better. “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” In other words, stop drawing conclusions from what looks spiritual and start discerning what is truly of God. Right judgment begins with humility. It asks the Lord to search the heart before the mouth speaks. It evaluates motives as carefully as actions. It remembers that mercy and truth are not enemies but companions.
We still fall into this trap. We condemn certain sins while ignoring our own. We use Scripture to defend our preferences rather than to expose our pride. We let emotion shape our sense of justice instead of allowing the Spirit to guide it. And like the Pharisees, we end up serving our traditions more than we serve God.
Jesus invites us to look deeper. He healed on the Sabbath not to break the law but to fulfill its purpose. The law was always meant to bring life, and so is His gospel. When we look at people through the eyes of Christ, we stop measuring by appearances. We begin to see beyond the surface. We begin to recognize what God is doing beneath the layers of brokenness.
Ask the Lord today to give you clear eyes and a soft heart. Ask Him to reveal where you have judged others by appearance or by preference instead of by truth. Then receive His mercy and extend that mercy to someone else. The same grace that corrected the Pharisees can correct us. Right judgment does not come from seeing more faults in others. It comes from seeing more of Jesus and letting His character become our measure for everything.
John 7:19-24
The religious leaders were furious with Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. Yet those same leaders would perform circumcision on the Sabbath when the law required it. Jesus points out their inconsistency. They used the law selectively, applying it strictly when it benefited their pride and loosely when it suited their convenience. This was not simple hypocrisy. It was the deeper issue of an unexamined heart. They valued the appearance of righteousness more than the pursuit of truth.
Jesus calls His listeners to something better. “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” In other words, stop drawing conclusions from what looks spiritual and start discerning what is truly of God. Right judgment begins with humility. It asks the Lord to search the heart before the mouth speaks. It evaluates motives as carefully as actions. It remembers that mercy and truth are not enemies but companions.
We still fall into this trap. We condemn certain sins while ignoring our own. We use Scripture to defend our preferences rather than to expose our pride. We let emotion shape our sense of justice instead of allowing the Spirit to guide it. And like the Pharisees, we end up serving our traditions more than we serve God.
Jesus invites us to look deeper. He healed on the Sabbath not to break the law but to fulfill its purpose. The law was always meant to bring life, and so is His gospel. When we look at people through the eyes of Christ, we stop measuring by appearances. We begin to see beyond the surface. We begin to recognize what God is doing beneath the layers of brokenness.
Ask the Lord today to give you clear eyes and a soft heart. Ask Him to reveal where you have judged others by appearance or by preference instead of by truth. Then receive His mercy and extend that mercy to someone else. The same grace that corrected the Pharisees can correct us. Right judgment does not come from seeing more faults in others. It comes from seeing more of Jesus and letting His character become our measure for everything.
Posted in The Word Made Flesh
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