Command 15 : Judge Not | Day 100

Be a Surgeon, Not a Judge!

In this command, we are instructed not to judge, but rather to do surgery—remove a splinter from another's eye; however, the prerequisite is to first remove the beam from our own eye. This is so we will be able to see clearly to remove the splinter. (See Matthew 7:5.) Surgical procedures such as this should be motivated by a desire to bring healing to another, whereas the responsibility of a judge is to determine the guilt of another person and enforce the consequences of the law.

We can expect a reaction if we try to correct another person without first correcting ourselves.

The renowned scholar Matthew Henry has provided a comprehensive explanation of this command. "We must judge ourselves, and judge our own acts, but we must not judge our brother. We must not sit in the judgment-seat, to make our word a law to every body ... . We must not speak evil of [our brother] (James 4:11). We must not despise him, nor set him at nought (Romans 14:10). We must not judge rashly, nor pass such a judgment upon our brother as has no ground, but is only the product of our own jealousy and ill nature ... .

"We must not judge a man's state by a single act, nor of what he is in himself by what he is to us, because in our own cause we are apt to be partial. We must not judge the hearts of others, nor their intentions, for it is God's prerogative to try the heart, and we must not step into his throne; nor must we judge of their eternal state, nor call them hypocrites, reprobates, and castaways; that is stretching beyond our line; what have we to do, thus to judge another man's servant? Counsel him, and help him, but do not judge him."

The knife of the surgeon brings healing, but the sword of a judgmental tongue brings destruction and death.

David Brainerd was mightily used by God to bring revival to thousands of Native American Indians in frontier tribes. However, when he was a student at Yale College, an incident occurred that affected the rest of his life. A fellow student asked him what he thought of a certain professor. His quick response was "He has no more grace than this chair." When the college president heard what David had said, he demanded a public apology be given before the whole school. Feeling justified in what he had said in private, he refused to comply with the president's request for a public apology and was later expelled from the school.

After a time of deep soul searching and turmoil, he came to recognize his wrongdoing in judging a fellow believer and sent a written apology to the college. Once he humbled himself in this way, he experienced new grace and joy in his relationship with God and went on to become a great "surgeon of souls." Let's purpose now to become skilled surgeons whose words and actions bring healing, rather than become judges of others.