Matthew 7:1-3 — Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Somebody asked my opinion a few days ago. I gave them my carefully considered advice. It was good, Biblical, advice. It was, really … and it was completely wrong.
I have this problem. If you ask my opinion, I’m going to give it to you. I can hear you now — “well sure … Someone asks, you answer … Why not?” Here’s the thing. Opinions often involve making judgments and Jesus was very clear about that.
According to Jesus (and there is no better authority!) the biggest reason not to judge is that there’s a pretty good chance that I have at least as many problems as anybody I judge. People cover this one up sometimes. “Oh no,”, they say, “I’m not judging, I’m just inspecting fruit.” That’s a good story — but if I’m going fruit inspecting, I’m going to try and make sure my own orchard is producing plenty of fruit first!
There are other reasons not to make judgments about people — even if they ask for it. One of the biggest is that it’s hardly ever possible to speak from any position except one of partial knowledge. There isn’t a single person that I know everything about. I don’t know the history. I don’t know the background. In fact I usually don’t even know what happened earlier in the day. I’m certainly not living that life. One thing I do know is that it’s a whole lot easier to be a critic than an actor.
There’s another thing … not only don’t I know enough to judge, but I don’t even know why I’m being asked. I should be smart enough by now to know that if I don’t know why a question’s being asked, then I don’t know enough to guess the right answer!
There’s one last reason why I shouldn’t set myself up as a judge. It’s not my job. In fact it’s God’s job. What that means is that when I presume to pass judgment, I put myself in the place of God! It’s falling into the temptation that Satan placed before Adam and Eve:
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4-5)
So now I’ve written all this down, I have a favor to ask. If you think you would like to ask my opinion — please don’t! You’ll be tempting me to judgment. I’m trying to give it up.