Expressing a Gracious Spirit

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“Do not judge, that you may not be judged…for with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”


Matt. 7:1

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Expressing a Gracious Spirit

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How to show Generosity in our Judgments
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​“Judge not.”  On the face, these words seem to prohibit any kind of judging.  It’s no wonder that many people use this verse as a way of protecting themselves against any sort of correction.

However, the context makes clear what Jesus intended.  Jesus was not putting a halt on all forms of judgment.  He was speaking about a certain kind of judgment; that is, a harsh and uncharitable form of judging.

Jesus goes on to clarify what he means by saying that you will be judged with the same strictness of judgment you pronounce.  The measure you use will be measured back to you.

We may thus understand Jesus’ words as forbidding a censorious spirit.  To put it another way, Jesus commands us to stop looking at things in the worst possible light.  We must cease being hyper-critical in our judgments and quick to find fault.  

After all, we would never want that kind of measurement to be used on us.  We want people to 'measure’ our actions and intentions with a spirit of generosity and kindness.

Some examples of a censorious spirit may be…

1). Judging a person’s motives as unreasonable or ill intended.  “They were in that room talking so I wouldn’t hear what they would say about me.”

2).  Being nit picky or critical about what someone is doing / how they are doing it.  Despite the child’s working hard all after noon, the critical mother says, “Why didn’t you wipe the table?”

3) Assuming the worst when we hear a report.  “How could he let that happen? Why is he so terrible!”

4) Believing someone to be guilty until they are proven innocent (and that innocence has to be proven far, Far, FAR beyond a reasonable doubt!)

A censorious person sees someone who is homeless and thinks that he must be a sluggard and deserve it.  It certainly wasn’t by Providence that he came to be in this situation.  Someone who is “judgy” assumes the child who breaks a dinner plate is clumsy and careless.  The plate couldn’t have simply slipped through his fingers and been an accident.

This condemning spirit was the trait that characterized Job’s friends.  Without any just cause, Eliphaz believed Job to have committed some sort of great evil.  God was obviously teaching Job a lesson because he had some sort of unconfessed sin!

Jesus says that our default should not be to find fault.  Instead, we should be most charitable in the way we deal with the people around us.  

That means we must be ready to put the best spin on a situation.  We should recognize that we may not have all the facts, and assume this person is innocent until otherwise proven.  We may need to believe the best about them and view their motives as having the best of intentions.  

Sure, there will be times when we do need to correct, probe, and discern.  The cordial spirit is obviously not gullible or naive.  However, it is indulgent.  As a follower of Christ, we are to “believe all things” and “hope all things.”  That means putting the most positive spin on a situation.  

We’ve been shown grace.  So we must show grace by demonstrating the most charitable frame of spirit.

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