With what judgment ye judge… – Sunday, March 30, 1958
No one of us is perfect. All of us make mistakes. All of us do some things we should and some things we shouldn’t, and some things that seem to be other than what we earnestly intend—and all of us have need for repentance.
And anyone—any onlooker, any observer, any accuser —can misjudge the motives of other men, or can, in some circumstances, make even innocent and honest or unintentional actions seem sinister or, as suggested in Isaiah: ” . . . make a man an offender for a word…”1
In a court of law, the accused is confronted with witnesses. But elsewhere conviction often comes by whispering, by gossip, by irresponsible accusation, sometimes from unseen sources, or even from innuendo that appears in print.
And this kind of unfair and indefensible trial is often conducted without any rules of evidence, and with little if any opportunity to present the truth or to present the truth or to overtake public or private opinion.
Unfortunately, it seems that people are often prone to believe the worst and to condemn quickly on what someone else has said, or simply on what appears might be so—or simply because someone has asked questions, which are assumed to be not questions only, but valid accusations as well.
Why should we ever feel so sure that we know the full facts on flimsy and inconclusive evidence? And why should we be so quick sometimes to find fault when we so little know the facts? As Emerson observed: “When we quarrel, how we wish we had been blameless”2—which sentence could be paraphrased to say, “When we criticize, how we wish we had been blameless.”
A determined faultfinder, an unjust judger, a prejudiced person, or a mean or a small or a malicious man could, if he would, find fault with anyone and everyone, could misconstrue motives, could twist words, could misinterpret, miscolor, or make any act or utterance seem something other than what it was.
Judgment based on gossip or emotion, or prejudice or mere appearance, or on malice or immaturity, is a kind of character killing which is unworthy of any or all of us.
“Judge not according to the appearance,”3 said our Lord and Savior, “but judge righteous judgment……. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”4
1Isaiah, 29:21
2Emerson, Journals, vol. ix, p. 497
3John, 7.24
4Matthew, 7:2
March 30, 1958
Broadcast Number 1,493