Happy Thursday, er, evening :) I know I've mentioned before that we are having some troubles with the blog, particularly in that we are no longer able to post in advance and have it appear on the blog at the date and time we select. This seems to be plaguing me more than the other ladies because since this happened, I've missed my day (maybe every time??) several times! Just so you know...I always have something written. I just think, I'll post it in the morning before I go to work...and then I wake up and get ready for work and leave and then get home around five and think, 'wait a minute, today is Thursday!! shoot!' So I apologize to you all and sincerely hope that next week I will remember!
Today I am going to talk briefly on Judgmentalism. Jerry Bridges, in his book Respectable Sins (which is where I stole the title of this series!) says, "The sin of judgmentalism is one of the most subtle of our "respectable" sins because it is often practiced under the guise of being zealous for what is right."
"What is right...." If you are anything like me, you have probably found yourself mistaking what is 'right' with a preference. For example, I am a firm believer that people should dress up for church: ladies should be wearing dress slacks or dresses and guys should be wearing a shirt and tie. In my head, this is how church should be! In the past, I have found myself thinking on several occassions that churches that don't follow this 'rule' aren't as mature as churches that do. Or, individuals who don't dress this way aren't as committed as the ones that do. However, in most instances, these conclusions are entirely incorrect! I was being judgemental of these people over a preference! Do I still prefer people dress a certain way when they go to church? You bet I do! But now, by God's grace, I am able to separate my personal feelings on the matter from reality and accept that some people are more comfortable wearing jeans.
Therefore, I would say the first step in fighting judgementalism is to look hard to see if what you are judging a person for is an actual sin or if its just something that makes you uncomfortable. "I would never play a card game!" "My daughters and I always wear dresses because they are more modest. The other ladies at our church are still not quite committed enough to see the truth of this." "People who drink beer are going to hell." "I just stopped by her house unexpectedly to drop something off and her front room was a mess! Her poor husband..." "She is clearly not a believer, did you see how she was dressed??" These are all judgemental thoughts - and all of them are sin.
I remember a time my sister Bekah and I had someone make the last comment about us, that we were clearly unbelievers because of the way we were dressed. Before you gasp in horor and try to imagine what we were wearing, let me tell you....we were wearing jeans. Thats right, only unbelieving women would consider wearing jeans! Christian women wear dresses.
Search your hearts, ladies. Pour into Scripture to discover if you are being judgemental. Are you really holding your children, husband, and friends to the standard that God has set forth in His Word or are you holding them to your own, stricter standard?
Next week (Lord willing!) I am going to discuss some ways that we show doctrinal judgementalism and how we can avoid it.
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