Godly Intent

Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.  For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.  Matthew 7:1-2 

One things a friend told me is that they talk with me because I do not judge them.  I am not sure if that is a compliment or a curse.  Nonetheless, it comes from a genuine belief that if you spend a lot of time thinking how to correct a person, you cannot truly understand them.  Why?  The key to listening is to gain understanding of another person.  Not judge whether they are right or wrong.  That is only part of the nonjudgmental equation.  The second part is to assume the best of others.  Not the worst.  For example, when someone commits a sin, we can draw one of two conclusions.  Either one, we could go the Samuel L. Jackson route yelling, “Yes, they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in Hell.”  Or, we are like the loving God who looks at His child saying, “My child, why would you do that?  Do you think that pleases me” response.  The first version is judging that turns off the listener.  The second version is understanding Godly intent that seeks understanding of both your and their relationship with God. 

We must focus on Godly intent with others and ourselves.  I am always saddened when I have failed God.  I find myself thinking like Paul did when he said, “So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.  I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” (Romans 7:14-15)  These verses are not an endorsement of sin.  Instead, they are a realistic look of our journey of faith that reminds us we all at times struggle.  We face challenges with sin, and God looks at those who have not accepted Christ with judgment.  However through Jesus Christ, we are looked on with the thought, “What can we learn from this?”  Do we grow from it, or do we continually let sin eat away at our character?  This is what Godly intent is about.  It means we look to do better even as we may have failed.  It focuses on what do we know and how could we do better.  The best thing is if we indeed get better and grow, our relationship with God grows with it. 

Understanding this, we must look at others the same way.  This is the underlining message of today’s verses.  If God looks at us with the intent we mean well even as we fail, we too must take that approach with others.  It makes the person that is supposedly beyond redeeming as a person we seek to understand why that is the case.  It becomes less about the sin and more about the person committing it.  It says, “I love you as you are,” and that is a message that a person supposedly beyond redemption may have never heard and often is desperate to hear. 

God loves us for both who we are and who we can be.  Should we accept this and continue to grow, God will be pleased.  Furthermore if we look unto others with that same belief, they perhaps will see the love of God they so long to have in their lives.  So let us push toward being open to understanding and less on judging.  When do you know you are judging and not listening?  How can you create for others a judgment free zone?  My prayer is that we remember how God’s showed us grace, and when talking to others, we have Godly intent.  Amen.