“Judge not [neither pronouncing judgment nor subjecting to censure], and you will not be judged...forgive and release (give up resentment, let it drop), and you will be acquitted and forgiven and released.” Luke 6:37 (AMPC)
When you refuse to forgive someone, you judge and sentence them. You judge their heart, motives and intentions and you sentence them to your chilly demeanor, silent treatment or hostility. You also sentence them, and yourself, to a broken relationship. The fact is that you don’t have the right to judge another person’s motives and intentions.
I’m not saying that you should trust everyone. You have to assess someone’s track record before deciding if they’re trustworthy. If you need a babysitter, for example, you’d better judge the track record of each candidate!Blindly trusting the first person who applies for the job would be foolish. The same is true when hiring staff. You need to judge each applicant’s track record by checking out their references!
The Bible says that you can know people by their fruit (their track record), so always examine previous behaviour before trusting them. But as you do, never judge people’s hearts. Judge actions to determine trustworthiness, but not motives and intentions.
When someone hurts you, let them know how they made you feel, but don’t assume to know why they did it. For example, if you wave to a friend across the street and they seem to ignore you, don’t assume to know why. If you conclude that they did it on purpose, you become that friend’s judge and you step into the zone of pain and suffering in that relationship.
Refuse to act as a judge in your relationships. Then you will walk free.
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