You Asked For It: Judging

July 20, 2025

Pastor Patrick presented today's message, "You Asked For It: Judging" A video of today's message is here on YouTube. This series started with folks being asked to submit scriptures that they would like explained/explored. So, it's quite literally: "You asked for it!"

Today's scripture is Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (NIV), or, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (KJV).

Truly, this is an oft misunderstood passage. I've dealt with it before by sharing this article: What does it mean to judge not lest you be judged (Matthew 7:1)?.

I've also written about a Christmas movie (imagine that!) that deals a bit with this judging issue, too: Naughty or Nice.

The best way I've ever heard it put ("translated") is "Judge, and be prepared to be judged." This was even more solidified in my mind based on Pastor Patrick's message in that the Greek verb to judge (kree'-no, κρίνω), as he pointed out, can also mean things like separate, discern, and distinguish as well as being critical in a negative sense. When we read passages like this, we hardly ever consider that we can judge something to be good as well. For some reason that wrongly escapes us.

There are two words in the Hebrew that basically mean judge: deen (דִּין) and shaw-fat' (שָׁפַט). The first, deen, is interesting as at its root it means to set a straight course as in guiding a ship, like "sail direct." The other word, shaw-fat', is more like what we typically thinking of to judge. This is seemingly more the norm in the Old Testament. Bear in mind however, it as possible to be judged innocent as guilty. It was not assumed that judging brings someone up short.

Shaw-fat' is used in an interesting passage in Exodus 18. Following the Exodus from Egypt, Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, comes to meet Moses and observes Moses handling all the issues of the Israelites. In other words, Moses was being the sole judge over all the people. Jethro told him that's too much for one man, assign judging to more people. In the same story it is made clear that God's laws are to be the foundation of such judgment (Exodus 18:16). Judgement isn't arbitrary. When you judge, judge according to God's parameters, not your own thoughts or feelings.

Pictured here is Deborah, the only female judge of the Israelites whose story is told in a couple chapters in the book of Judges. Here's a summary article: Meet Deborah, the only female warrior-judge of the Old Testament.

Bonus

Unruly Heart (Song)

Two of our grandsons are in a production of "The Prom" by the Colorado Springs Conservatory. It opens August 1st at the Ent Center for the Arts. Tickets.

Being totally unfamiliar with the show, Lynn and I watched the movie on Netflix. There was one song, particularly the title, that resonated with me: "Unruly Heart."

It struck a Biblical chord with me. In several Torah passages (e.g. Genesis 8:21 and Jeremiah 32:30), God makes it clear that "a man's heart leans toward evil from his youth." The heart is truly unruly.

I know from a lifetime of experience how strong sexual attraction and love in a male can be toward a female. And I can't imagine overcoming it to have the same level of attraction with the same sex. If one's unruly heart happens to have that same level of attraction to the same sex, it seems to me it would be fundamental and effectively impossible to overcome.

The music is beautiful, too, soulful.

This does open a can of worms. Where do we fight an unruly heart (that, for example, wants to steal its way to wealth and/or power) and where do we accept its unruliness and live a Godly life anyway? If I come up with a good answer, I'll let you know.

Bonus2

Woman in Gold (Movie)



Lynn and I watched a good movie this past week entitled Woman in Gold. It's a true story of an elderly Jewish refugee living in Los Angeles and her lawyer who try to get back a family painting that was stolen by the Nazis and ended up in an Austrian art museum. It's a portrayal of "the bigger the government the smaller the citizen" and the tenacity of a couple citizens to get done what is right. Reminded us a bit of "Schindler's List." We hear the book, "The Lady in Gold" by Anne-Marie O'Connor, is quite good as well.