Excerpt
If we ever needed instruction on judging, it is today! What, then, did Jesus mean when He said, "e;Do not judge, or you too will be judged"e; (Matt. 7:1)? To put I briefly, He was teaching that we should not make Pharisaical judgments. We are not to be Pharisees, who loved to judge and therefore judged the wrong things; or even if they did make right judgments, made them for the wrong reasons. They exhibited a "e;holier than thou"e; tone in everything they did and said. We could say that Jesus is warning us, "e;Don't become a Pharisee, but do make righteous judgments."e; How can we be guarded from Pharisaism on the one hand and mindless gullibility on the other? How do we know what should be judged and how judgments are to be made? What are the parameters to guide us? These are questions that must be addressed. Keep in mind that the word judge means to exercise discernment; at other times is can mean to condemn; and sometimes both ideas are present. But clearly Jesus is not teaching that all judging is wrong. Judging, or discernment, lies at the heart of Christian living.