CHRISTIAN CHARACTERISTICS - Oswald Chambers
” Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Criticism is part of the ordinary faculty of a man, he has a sense of humor, i.e., a sense of proportion, and he sees where things are wrong and pulls the other fellow to bits; but Jesus says, as a disciple, cultivate the uncritical temper. In the spiritual domain, criticism is love gone sour. There is no room for criticism in a wholesome spiritual life. The critical faculty is an intellectual one, not a moral one. If criticism becomes a habit, it will destroy the moral energy of the life and paralyze spiritual force. The only Person who can criticize human beings is the Holy Spirit. No human being dares criticize another human being, because immediately he does, he puts himself in a superior position to the one he criticizes. A critic must be removed from what he criticizes. Before a man can criticize a work of art or piece of music, his information must be complete,
he must stand away from what he criticizes as superior to it. No human being can ever take that attitude to another human being, if he does, he puts himself in the wrong position and grieves the Holy Spirit. If a man is continually criticized, he becomes good for nothing, the effect of the criticism is to knock all the gumption and power out of him. Criticism is deadly in its effect because it divides a man’s powers and prevents his being a force for anything. That is never the work of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost alone is in the true position of a critic, He is able to show what is wrong without wounding and hurting.
The temper of mind that makes me lynx-eyed to see where others are wrong does not do them any good, because the effect of my criticism is to paralyze their powers, which proves that the criticism did not come from the Holy Ghost. I have put myself into the position of a superior person. Jesus says a disciple can never stand off from another life and criticize it, therefore He advocates an uncritical temper, ” Judge not.” Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person s place.
The counsel of Jesus is to abstain from judging. This sounds strange at first because the characteristic of the Holy Spirit in a Christian is to reveal the things that are wrong, but the strangeness is only on the surface. The Holy Spirit does reveal what is wrong in others, but His discernment is never for purposes of criticism, but for purposes of intercession. When the Holy Spirit reveals something of the nature of sin and unbelief in another, His purpose is not to make me feel the smug satisfaction of a critical spectator Well, thank God, I am not like that; but to make me so lay hold of God for that one that God enables him to turn away from the wrong thing. Never ask God for discernment, because discernment increases your responsibility terrifically; and you cannot get out of it by talking, but only by bearing the life up in inter cession before God until God puts him right. If any man sees his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.” (1 John V. 16.) Our Lord makes no room for criticism in the spiritual life, but He does make room for discernment and discrimination.
If we let these searchlights go straight down to the root of our spiritual life, we will see why Jesus says Don’t judge, we won’t have time to. The whole of the life is to be lived in the power of God so that He can pour through the rivers of living water to others. Some of us are so concerned about the outflow, that it dries up. We continually ask Am I of any use? Jesus tells us how to be of use Believe in Me, and out of you will flow rivers of living water.
Judge not, that ye be not judged.” If we let that maxim of Our Lord s sink into our heart, we will find how it hauls us up. ” Judge not ” why we are always at it! The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual, there is nothing of the likeness of Jesus about him. A critical temper is a contradiction to all Our Lord s teaching. Jesus says of criticism, apply it to yourself, never to anyone else. Why dost thou judge thy brother? … for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Whenever you are in the critical temper, it is impossible to enter into communion with God. Criticism makes you hard and vindictive and cruel and leaves you with the nattering unction that you are a superior person. It is impossible to develop the characteristics of a saint and maintain the critical attitude. The first thing the Holy Spirit does is to give you a spring-cleaning, and there is no possibility of pride left in a man then. I never met a man I could despair of after discerning what there lies in me apart from the grace of God. Stop having a measuring rod for others. Jesus says regarding judging Don t judge; be uncritical in your temper, because in the spiritual domain you can accomplish nothing by criticism. One of the severest lessons to learn is to leave the cases we do not understand to God. There is always one fact more in every life of which we know nothing, therefore says Jesus Judge not. It is not done once for all; we have to be always remembering that this is our Lord s rule of conduct.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” This statement of Our Lord s is not a haphazard guess, it is an eternal law, and it works from God s throne right down. (See Psalm XVIII.25-26.) The measure I mete is measured to me again. Jesus puts it here in connection with criticism. If you have been shrewd in finding out the defects of others, that will be exactly the measure meted out to you, that is the way people will judge you. I am perfectly certain that man has been criticizing me.” Well, what have you been doing? Life serves back in the coin you pay; you are paid back not necessarily by the same person, but the law holds good ” with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.” And it works with regard to good as well as evil. If you have been generous, you will meet with generosity again through someone else; and if you mete out criticism and suspicion to others, that is the way you will be treated. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution.
According to Our Lord, the basis of life is retribution, but He makes no room for retaliation.
In Romans II. this principle is applied still more definitely, viz., what I criticize in another I am guilty of myself. Every wrong I see in you; God locates in me; every time I judge you, I condemn myself. Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thy self; for thou that judgest doest the same things.” God does not look at the act, He looks at the possibility. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do I believe that what I criticize in another I am guilty of myself? I can always tell sin in another man because I am a sinner. The reason I can see hypocrisy and fraud and unreality in others is that they are all in my own heart. The great danger is to call carnal suspicion the conviction of the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Ghost convicts’ men, He convicts for conversion, that men might be converted and manifest other characteristics. I have no right to put myself in the place of a superior person and tell them what I see that is wrong, that is the work of the Holy Ghost.
The great characteristic of the saint is humility. I realize to the full that all these sins and others would have been manifested in me but for the grace of God, therefore I have no right to judge. Jesus says Don t judge, because if you do, it will be measured to you again exactly as you have judged. Which one of us would dare stand before God and say My God, judge me as I have judged my fellow men? We have judged our fellow men as sinners; if God judged us like that we would be in hell. God judges us through the marvelous Atonement of Jesus Christ.
The kind impudence of the average truth teller is inspired of the devil when it comes to pointing out the defects of others. The devil is lynx-eyed for things he can criticize, and we are all shrewd in pointing out the mote in our brother s eye. It puts me in a superior position I am a finer spiritual character than you. here do you find that characteristic? In the Lord Jesus? Never. The Holy Ghost works through the saints unbeknown to them, He works through them as light. If this is not understood, you will say That preacher or that teacher seems to be criticizing me all the time. He is not, it is the Holy Spirit in the preacher discerning what is wrong in you.
The last curse in your life as a Christian is the person who becomes a providence to you, he is quite certain you cannot do anything without his advice, and if you don’t need it, you are sure to go wrong. Jesus ridiculed that notion with terrific power ” Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother s eye.” ” Thou hypocrite,” literally play actor, one whose reality is not in keeping with his sincerity; a hypocrite is one who plays two parts consciously for his own ends. When you find fault with other people you may be quite sincere, yet Jesus says in reality you are a fraud. There is no getting away from the penetration of Jesus. If I see the mote in your eye, it is because I have a beam in my own. It is a most homecoming statement.
If I have let God remove the beam from my own outlook by His mighty grace, I will carry with me the implicit sunlight confidence that what God has done for me He can easily do for my brother, because he has only a splinter, I had a log of wood! This is the confidence God s salvation gives you, you are so amazed that God has altered you that you can despair of no one. Oh yes, I know God can undertake for you, you are only a little wrong, I was wrong down to the remote depths of my mind, I was a mean, prejudiced, self -interested, self-seeking person, and God has altered me, therefore I can never despair of you or of anyone. These statements of Our Lord s save us from that fearful peril of spiritual conceit Thank God I am not as other men, and also make us realize why such a man as Daniel bowed his head in vicarious humiliation and intercession I have sinned with Thy people. That call comes every now and again to individuals and to nations.
