Author: Paul Nordman

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Judgment Versus Judgmentalism

Watching my brother get into trouble with our mother was great spectator sport for me. Two years his junior, I must confess some guilty pleasure as Eric squirmed a bit under the microscope of scrutiny in Mom’s court of correction. I was more than willing to chime in and help her make her point — for the good of the family, of course. Occasionally in doing so, however, I’d expose my own culpability, at which point Mom would look at me with her “you just stepped in it” grin and intone, “Paul, your halo slipped.” It was the difference between judging and judgmentalism: Our mother was speaking truth for my brother’s own good; I, on the other hand, was there for the schadenfreude.

Our culture views judgmentalism as rooted in malintent — a heart set on faultfinding, accusation, and condemnation — and therefore rightly holds it in contempt. Furthermore, we who presume to declare judgment over others have sin issues of our own, which adds an unbecoming element of hypocrisy and the scorn that comes with it. The Bible translation “The Message” says in its ultra-paraphrased way: “Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.”1 Jesus similarly challenges us, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?’”2 But God’s heart toward us in judgment is good, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.”3 He, and only He, is blameless when He judges.4

Jesus’s words on the mount echo still to us today, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”5 We are called to “judge all things”6 in a discernment sense, but we are specifically commanded not to presume to know and condemn the thoughts, words, or deeds of others. Then how do we navigate this tricky terrain? First, check your heart. Have you presumed to know what is impossible for you to know, namely the heart of another? Second, remember. We face a common enemy who “pushes our individual buttons” with temptations, deceptions, and lies to which we are susceptible. And third, set judgment aside and pray. People don’t need our verdict; they need our help.

Speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. — James 2:12-13 ESV.

Father, as you have called me in your grace, grace me to extend it as I am called today. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Romans 2:2 MSG
2 Matthew 7:3 NIV
3 2 Chronicles 16:9 ESV
4 Psalm 51:4 NASB
5 Matthew 7:1 NIV
6 1 Corinthians 2:15 ESV

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You’re Pure for Sure

Do you remember Pure gas stations? Their slogan, “Be Sure with Pure,” was something of a losing proposition, seemingly, for in the late 60s its parent company rebranded Pure as Union 76. It seems people were willing to tolerate a little dose of impurity in their gas tanks, after all. So it is likewise with our spiritual life: we accept some measure of impurity; in fact, our sin nature prefers it. But God does not.

Sometimes we errantly look upon God’s mercy as a “replacement” for His judgment, as if sin is no longer sin — or no longer to be judged as sin — and as though sin has somehow outlasted God’s Word and won the day. For example, a pastor friend once mused about sexual sin clearly condemned in the Bible. “I think under the new covenant, it may no longer be a sin,” he said. I was stunned, for by no means will God ever taint His purity through capitulation. Such would be unmerciful to us.

To understand God’s mercy, we must understand our sin. By its nature, sin separates us from God, as David confessed in song, “No evil can dwell with You.”1 Isaiah proclaims of humankind, “your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God.”2 Moreover, even “our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”3 And lest we think God grades us on a curve, James warns us, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”4 It is into this squalor that God’s mercy brilliantly shines.

Then to understand God’s judgment, we must understand His purity. Sin must be completely eradicated, but how could a flawed people so separated by sin from God even begin atone for our sins, let alone succeed in doing so? Only God’s sinless life can sacrificially atone for a people made in His image. And so it is that God “made Him who knew no sin [Jesus] to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”5 This sinless Jesus “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds.”6 In Hebrews we read, “Such a high priest truly meets our need — one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”7 In His purity, Jesus withstood God’s judgment and, in His mercy, He purifies all who live in Him. In Christ, we’re pure for sure. He makes us so.

Then, “since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”8

Be sure. You’re pure.

Father, thank You for Your judgment of sin, and thank You for purifying us through the sacrificial atonement of Your Son. In His name we pray. Amen.

1 Psalm 5:4 NASB
2 Isaiah 59:2 NASB
3 Isaiah 64:6
4 James 2:10 ESV
5 2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB
6 Titus 2:14 NASB
7 Hebrews 7:26 NIV
8 Hebrews 10:21-22 ESV

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Our Judgment of God’s Judgments

“The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.” ~ Psalm 119:9 NASB

Over the past several months, I have found myself spontaneously confessing before God, “Lord, You are right when You judge.” His judgment has been on my mind and His rightness on my heart, so we’ve been blogging lately on topic of judgment. In our October 16 post, we viewed judgment as a kindness, for as a medical diagnosis directs us toward healing, so divine judgment ushers us toward mercy. Then in our October 30 post, we confessed our own unsuitability for the task, for not only are we capable of false judgment, we are actually prone to it. We crave justice only God can wield, yet we judge Him for the way in which He wields it. So, today, let’s address this irony of ironies — our judgment of God’s judgments.

One giant misstep for us is to blame God for not judging, or not judging soon or severely enough to our liking. The prophet Habakkuk muses before God, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”1 Today, we ponder the same, but articulate it differently: “How can a loving God allow so much injustice in the world?” which is to say, why isn’t God as impatient and intolerant as we are?

Our second faux pas is to blame God for judging too harshly. When Job — the archetype of suffering — and his “friends” [cough, cough] exhausted their accusations and advice, God broke His silence and asserted His authority: “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?”2 For 35 canonical chapters, these men had judged God’s judgment, and unjustly so. It took God just two rhetorical questions to cut to the heart of the matter. Likewise, who are we to judge God judgments, and why would presume to try? As He spoke through Isaiah, “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him . . .”3

So let us cease subjecting God’s judgment to our Goldilocks assessments — too hot or too cold, and too hard or too soft. For His judgments are just right, or “righteous altogether.” 4 They lead us to His mercy . . .

 . . . and “mercy triumphs over judgment.”5

“Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”6 You are “justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”7 We trust in Your judgments and rest in Your mercy. For in Christ we live, and in His name we pray. Amen.

1 Habakkuk 1:13 NIV, emphases added
2 Job 40:8 NIV
3 Isaiah 45:9 ESV
4 Psalm 119:9 NASB
5 James 2:13 ESV
6 Revelation 16:7 ESV
7 Psalm 51:4 ESV