Righteous Judgment

Righteous Judgment

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” I Corinthians 4.3-5 

Have you ever considered how much the atheist and the agnostic takes for granted?

The atheist assumes that he knows all that exists, and he assumes that according to his limited scope. After all, the most sophisticated modern technology used by astronomers has still only scraped the surface of the universe – and, have barely looked into the vast regions of space beyond. The atheist argues, at best, from his own limited experience and from what his temporal faculties are able to sense. His arguments are fallible since his ability to perceive things is limited.

The agnostic assumes that there may be a God, but He is irrelevant. His assumptions, like those of the atheist are limited by his personal experience. He believes that since he has never seen God, God must certainly not exist. By definition, the agnostic is: “a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.” (dictionary.com)

Then, there is the theological liberal who denies the real supernatural. I suppose this is in part to the fact that he has never experienced the miracle of the new birth offered by God through Jesus Christ.

Having become an heir together with the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8.17) by means of His salvation, the believer is one who, through experience and according to biblical foundation knows that his Redeemer is alive and well. (Job 19.25)

Paul argues that, since we do not know everything there is to know, we should be careful about making judgments based upon our limited capacity to know. How often have we rushed to judgment or raced to form an opinion only to realize after a time that we should have bridled our tongue and listened a bit longer. Often ascribed to Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain is the quotation: “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt.” However, there is no substantive evidence that either of these famous individuals employed the maxim. There are others to whom this statement has been attributed; however, it is a good standard by which to control our tongues no matter who said it first.

The world is filled with people who lack the ability to restrain comment until they have heard the whole matter. The one sharing “reliable” information is at best someone reporting with some bias. Because of that lives have been destroyed, families wrecked and reputations damaged beyond repair because of a single voice that spoke after having heard only a part of the situation.

As children, we would sing a little song with a verse that went something like this: “O, be careful little tongue what you say. O, be careful little tongue what you say. For the Father up above is looking down in love. O, be careful little tongue what you say.”

Let us be circumspect in controlling our tongues – knowing full-well that once a word is spoken it cannot be retrieved.