Have you ever found yourself wanting to deal out judgement on someone when you hear the evil that they’ve done? If someone breaks the law do you find yourself pointing your finger at them, hoping for the judge to throw the book at them? When you hear of someone’s hidden life of sin, do you want to see them shamed to repentance? If someone has wronged you, do you want to see their wrong come back to them seven-fold? It is easy to want to see justice when a wrong is committed. But we have to be careful. We can cry out for justice, but it is God’s job to judge because the bible teaches us that we are to judgenothing. First Corinthians 4:5 says:
"Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God."
I like what he says, “He will bring to light what is hidden in the darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.” We are not, and will never be qualified to judge someone else with a Godly judgement. First, because we are sinners ourselves. As Jesus says to the crowd about to stone the woman caught in the act of adultery. “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” But also, because we don’t know the motives of the heart. Only God knows that. Some people do good things for the wrong reason, and some people do bad things for the right reason. I’m not saying that the ends justify the means, but it isn’t our call either way because God looks at our heart above all else. So I encourage you, to stay safe by judging nothing. Let God take care of all that. We need to focus on ourselves.
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Paul tells us to “judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.” We need to remember our role in God’s plan. It isn’t to judge or to deal out justice. I know… It’s hard. I’ve found myself there too. I watch a lot of “true crime” shows and I love to see how God provides ways for the authorities to catch the bad guys. But I’m not the judge and I’m not the jury. It isn’t for me to deal out punishment or to judge someone for their actions. That is up to God. It is awesome that he uses people here on this earth to stop injustice and to sentence those who have broken the law. But unless you operate within those roles, I encourage you to leave it up to God.