How would you judge yourself based on God’s standard regarding pride, cruelty or selfishness? Would your friends and others agree? Would you want to be held accountable for this? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 1300).
In
every case, the judge must be impartial…. If there is any reason
that the judge might not be able to be impartial, such as the judge
is a friend of one of the parties, the judge must withdraw from the
case. That is called a recusal. (Source)
Many
will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in
Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:22-3).
I
am very reluctant to let others drive my car or ride my bike. My
thinking is this; if I should damage either one I will be rather
quick to forgive myself. However if someone else should damage my
car or bike I will likely become angry and unforgiving.
The
essential problem in giving answer to today’s questions lies in the
challenge of self-judgment. I know that my ability to rationalize
anything at all on the road to looking good in my own eyes is almost
total. In a real sense I am flat-out incapable of judging myself. I
must therefore recuse myself from self-judgment as it is impossible
to be objective about my own behavior. I am, to put it mildly, an
interested party.
However,
neither must I be willing to accept the judgment of others as
absolute. For by now I am well aware that other people can have
motives (based on friendship or antagonism) that cloud their judgment
of me – for either good or bad. While I appreciate compliments and
am always glad to hear them, I must always remember that only God
knows the heart making self-congratulatory pride on this earth a
little premature. I’ve had people ask me if I think I’m going to
heaven when I die. Of course the answer is always a thundering
affirmative. I’m less anxious to hear God’s judgment on the
matter.
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