Day 20 - The Judgmental Tongue

Judgmental - tending to make moral judgments (an opinion formed)

Matthew 7:1,2 '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.'

These couple of verses are what God has used most to bring conviction to my judgmental attitude. I confess I have had much trouble with this use of my tongue and know this is a place of weakness I need to confess to God. In the past a lot of this came out of my own insecurity. When God started dealing with this in me, it was hard for me to see the line between discerning something and judging it.
I remember reading in a book by James Richards that you can make observations but as soon as you determine you know someone's motive behind the action, it is judgment.
I like how Deborah Pegues described the choice we make to judge. 'Judgmental people engage in a critical, fault-finding assessment of another person's behavior. What is amazing is that they judge others by their actions but judge themselves by their intentions. Of course, most of us tend to judge others from an autobiographical viewpoint. If someone's behavior does not reflect a choice or decision we would have made, we judge it as wrong. Jesus based His judgment of people's behavior on nothing other than God's standard. This is the only basis from which we can righteously judge. '
We can pray for those walking contrary to God's Word. Be careful if you observe this happening that you turn and pray for them and don't cross the line into deciding why they are doing what they do. Ask God to reveal to you areas that you may have passed judgment and turn away from it.
'Lord, please help us to be secure in You. Help us to not judge and be quick to confess or repent of any judgments we make or have made. You are the final word, not us!'
Speaking the Truth
Matthew 7:3-5 '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? How can you say to your brother,'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in you own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.'

Excerpted from 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue by Deborah Smith Pegues (Harvest House Publishers 2005). Autographed copy of the book and workbook available at www.confrontingissues.com.