Making Good Judgment

King James Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: Making Good Judgment
Date: Friday December 16, 2011
Chapters: The Book of James
All Scripture quoted comes from the King James Version, words in red are quoted by Jesus.

Hello My Friend,

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” - Matthew 7:1-5.

Do you know how many people are quick to utter the phrase “the Bible says, don't judge me” or something similar? It is usually people not living by the Word of God that utter that phrase after they have been caught doing something. I use to have this person say to me quite often, “Do you think you are a better Christian than me?” No one is better than anyone else, Christians or not, we are all sinners, we all have faults, we all have things in our lives that we need to work on. The difference between those living by the Word of God and those not is our ability to make the right judgment based on God's Word. There is a big difference between judging someone and making the right judgment of others. “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” - John 7:24.

The Book of James is the twentieth book of the New Testament, the fifty-ninth book of the Bible, and contains five chapters. The author of this epistle (letter) is James and it was first written to the Jewish believers who were among the twelve tribes of Israel, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” - James 1:1. He wrote the letter around 60AD, the purpose of it was to comfort believers who were undergoing trials for their faith. What we are to learn from the book is that faith is the foundation of good works, but without good works faith is dead. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” - James 2:26.

To judge means to form an opinion of; to bring to issue the reasoning or deliberations of the mind. To make the right judgment is the act or process of the mind in comparing its ideas, to find their agreement or disagreement, and to ascertain truth. We all have done thins, formed an opinion of someone based on how they were dressed or looked, the world loves to judge a person by the clothes they are wearing, possessions they have, or the people the are around. But think about it, haven't we as Christians done the same thing to people in our church, maybe not intentionally, but we all have been quick to judge by sight first. James stresses the importance of remembering that we, who are saved, born again Christians, are to treat everyone the same, regardless of what they look like.

“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” - James 2:1-10.

If I have learned one thing as Christian, it is this, God will place all sorts of people in your life, some are quite a challenge to deal with, but He places everyone in our lives to teach us to be more like Christ. Do you think Jesus did not want to avoid certain people that were annoying? He loved everyone and treated everyone the same, He used good judgment and judged accordingly. When a group of men brought a woman to Him that they caught in adultery, He said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” -John 8:7b. Every one of them took off, knowing they had some kind of sin in their lives. We are all sinners, we all grow at different levels in our Christianity, and no matter how much we try to do the right thing we are going to mess it up sometimes, that is where Christ come in. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one...For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” -Romans 3:10-12,23,24.

Perhaps the thing that gets us in the most trouble is our tongue, when we do not use good judgment before we speak we are quick to speak what is on our minds, rather than give a rational response. James stresses the importance of controlling our tongue.

“For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body...Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be...Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom...But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” - James 3:2,5-10,13,17.

The Christian who is not affected by the sins of the tongue, but takes care to avoid them, has an undoubted sign of true grace. The wisdom and grace of God which enables one to control the tongue, will enable them also to control all other actions. I will admit that I still have a hard time controlling my tongue when I get aggravated with someone, especially when they do not care if they are doing the right thing or not. However, I am learning to think before I say anything that is going to haunt me later. Wicked people will always try to twist what you say to their advantage, but when we allow God to intervene we will see the victory and the blessings. “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” -Romans 8:27,28.

We cannot always control who we get around, but we can make good judgment in how we handle the people we get around. I do not care how strong your faith someone from your past is going to put you to the test, the key to passing that test is drawing close to God, lots of prayer, mediating on the Bible, and listening to how God wants you to handle them. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” -James 1:12.

Today's Prayer:
Dear God,
Lord, You’ve appointed us to live in a decadent age where the hearts of men are turned away from the true living God and live instead by the world’s principles. But we who have the indwelling Holy Spirit must continue to build our lives on the foundation of our holy faith as we spread the gospel message, “Jesus is the first and final answer to all of life’s problems.” We seek to be directed by Your Spirit and live in such a way that we honor You even as scoffers ridicule us. May we show mercy to those whose faith is wavering and rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. In the process of daily living, as we reach out to the lost and dying, help us not to stumble so that on Your appointed day we will be brought into Your glorious presence innocent of sin. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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