“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”             – Matthew 7:1,2

When we condemn others, Jesus assures us we are condemning ourselves. And no matter how much worse that guy’s sin may look than our own, placing him under the law puts us right there with him. To stand in judgment, we enter the courtroom and find ourselves subject to the gavel. We are all imperfect and fallen; we are all guilty. Any appeal to the law exposes us to judgment.

God’s perspective is radically different than ours, so we see in the judgment of “the sheep and goats” (Matthew 25). It is what the goats failed to do that Jesus brings to the fore.“‘I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’’  When the goats express their shock and dismay, Jesus makes it plain – ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they are sent away to eternal loss.

While we may never have abused a child or murdered someone, it is clear that we all do harm by what we do and by what we fail to do. All of us have the capacity to share a meal or reach out to someone hurting. We may even have the means to help stop abuse or limit exploitation of the poor. It may be worse to be a perpetrator of evil, but God holds us responsible to do good, not just play nice.

It is right to be horrified by the sin around us, but not so much that we lose focus on our own deep need for redemption. As we daily invite God into every crevice of heart and soul, He shines His light. And what He reveals promotes humility and annihilates judgment. It opens to see that we are all alike.

He loves us fully as we are and asks us to bear witness to that love in all we do. Don’t fail to see the evil in yourself, nor to recognize Jesus in the broken and needy nearby.

Never bite on judgment. Goats will eat almost anything, but you don’t want to be a goat. Nope!