Dr Lanny
September 6, 2024
Unique source of Personal Insight
Rationalizing is common way to deal with personal failures, but not a way to self-improvement.
I have learned so much about myself when I finally got some insight to being judgmental of other people’s actions. I started with self-appointed right to judge another person because I am not like them or even better than them. This is not so. The something I dislike in the other person turns out to be in reality something deficient in my life that I do not recognize or am not willing to admit. I can see it in them but not me. Therefore, I am free to be judgmental. After receiving a little insight, I saw I was doing the same thing or had the same motive I am judging.
In psychology it is known as projection. I place or project upon the other person unrecognized actions or motives that are in my life. My dislike for their action or motive is the same dislike I would have for myself if I had any insight at all.
The Bible was first to bring this psychological principle to light. The bible says judge not least you be judged in like manner.
Matthew 7:1 says ““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”.
What you are judging in another person just happens to be one you share. You are doing the same thing or have the same motive. The judgement you are rendering will come back on you with the inherent consequences in same manner and magnitude. This principle is universally activated just like the law of gravity. You cannot see the law of gravity until you jump. Being judgmental will fulfill the principle of reaping what you have sown. The agricultural analogy of like kind is if you plant a seed of corn, you will get corn, not sunflowers. How you judge another will be a judgment coming back on you so you may gain personal insight. You are doing the same thing or have the same motive.
My most memorable example of being judgmental I have labeled the hemorrhoid story. In Deuteronomy 28;27 it says that a curse of the law is having “emerods,” readily understood to be hemorrhoids. There is no Biblical or non- biblical argument that hemorrhoids are not a curse. I personally had hemorrhoids when out of fellowship with the Lord and know the condition is not a blessing. After repenting and being restored I was walking the best I knew in righteousness and no hemorrhoids for years. Then one day in surgery I had the sudden feeling of a hemorrhoid. I knew that could not be since I was in right relationship with God. Yet it felt like what I remembered. I even told God this could not be since I was so righteous. I should have said self-righteous. However, just to be sure, after the surgery I went to the locker room for the confirmation. To my surprise, I had a hemorrhoid. I again told God this could not be even though the evidence was to the contrary.
I then accepted the diagnosis and asked again, “How could this be?” The immediate response was that I judged two Christian friends who had hemorrhoids as not being righteous like me. The answer was a simple truth, “Judge not least you be judged in like manner also.” This is the most tangible example of the Word of God in action I can remember, the hemorrhoids. Think about this and avoid the consequences. What you see in others you do not like might just be something you would not like in yourself especially if raised to the level of being judgmental.
Since I became aware of the personal weakness of being judgmental, I quickly change to plan B when I see the fault in another. I immediately self-examine for the same issue in my life. I am doing the same thing as those I have judged. A common desire to be judgmental happens when I see a colleague with an insatiable appetite for recognition. It must have started as a youth by “hey, mom, no hands, look at me” when riding a bike. They cannot restrain from talking about themselves. They want to be loved and have recognition. I am not going to judge. I also what to be loved and have recognition. I have gone about it more silent manner having learned the Biblical truth over and over that pride precedes a fall. This is what I like about the Bible where it gives instruction not to let your praise come out of your own mouth. I recognize what I have been given is a gift and the blessings are not of my doing. Therefore, I must move forward asking for the creation of a humble spirit within me to counter my carnal desires. I want a steadfast spirit to keep humility going. I will stay away from being judgmental and another hemorrhoid story.
After that experience, if someone asked me what did I think about a well known good Christian who was reported to have cancer. My immediate response would be “no opinion”.
I do not need to correct them but me. I have learned that I am a full-time job. We are cautioned to exercise good judgement, without being judgmental. Being judgmental is casting dispersions. After all we are not the ultimate judge. That job has already been taken by God. No “Help Wanted” signs have been posted.