Life Ministries

    The command not to judge others doesn’t mean that we can’t see the sinfulness of certain actions. Now, we are never to look down in self-righteous judgment on another sinner, for we have all fallen short of the glory of God, but we can recognize sin as sin, and we should never try to justify it.
    We need to be careful not to become harshly judgmental, looking for faults, taking the opportunity to look down on others from a position of self-righteousness….But neither are we to overlook sin. We need to be able to recognize sin for what it is. Any attempt to overlook or justify sin on any grounds is itself sinful. We also need to be able to judge a persons motive or position against the truth and standard of God’s Word. -  (False teachers, etc. ) There is a difference between exercising judgment and a judgmental attitude. One can be good, the other is destructive.
Illustration:
    It’s about Teddy Stallard, who by his own admission was an unattractive, unmotivated little boy; one of those that teachers find difficult to like and easy to judge as "the problem child." Teddy was a source of great frustration for his fifth-grade teacher, Miss Thompson, who all day long faced his deadpan, unfocused stare.  Although she said she loved all her students, Miss Thompson had to admit that deep down, she didn’t like Teddy as much as the others. She even received a certain pleasure in marking his papers with red ink and writing F’s on them. Though she was a Christian, she judged Teddy.
    However, as his teacher, she had his records, and she knew more about him than she wanted to admit: 
First Grade: "Teddy shows promise with his work and attitude, but he has a poor home situation."
Second Grade: "Teddy could do better. Mother is seriously ill. He receives little help at home."
Third Grade: "Teddy is a good boy but is too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year."
Fourth Grade: "Teddy is very slow but well behaved. His father shows no interest."
    At Christmas, Miss Thompson’s class all brought her pretty gifts, and gathered round to watch her open them. She was surprised when she received a gift from Teddy -- crudely wrapped in brown paper and tape. When she opened it, out fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet with half the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume. The other children began to giggle, but she had enough sense to put on the bracelet and apply some of the perfume to her wrist. She asked the class, "Doesn’t it smell lovely?" When school was over and the other children had left, Teddy lingered behind. He slowly came over to her desk and said softly, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother. And her bracelet looks real pretty on you, too. I’m glad you liked my presents." When Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her.
    The next day when the children came to school, they were welcomed by a changed teacher. Miss Thompson’s eye plank was gone, and she had been given a new vision to see how to help each one by the grace of God. By the end of that school year, Teddy showed dramatic improvement and had caught up with most of the students.
    After that she did not hear from Teddy for a long time. Then one day she received a note that said: "Dear Miss Thompson: I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class. Love, Teddy Stallard."
    Four years later, she received another note: "Dear Miss Thompson: They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stallard."
    Finally, she received another note: "Dear Miss Thompson: As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; my dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard."
    Miss Thompson went to that wedding. God had removed the log in her eye, given her clear vision, and by his Spirit in her she had done something for Teddy that changed his life forever.
    All of this happened because one Christian stopped leaping to conclusions; stopped judging and looked to help and to heal…What would church be like if each one of us would change how we look at others, and  take on this attitude that is different from the way the world thinks and acts?