|
Thought for the day... Tuesday, February 09, 2010 - Day 40 |
||
 |
|||
|
|||
Muddled Motives
"I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me." I Corinthians 4:4
People are more prone to judge motives than actions. You hear the politician say of his opponent, "He has no heart for the poor." And yet this same politician would be loath to call attention to a moral defect in the life of his opponent. People respond to the former by nodding in agreement or disagreement, but judge as intolerant the accusation of the latter.
God says the opposite: Judge the sins of fellow believers, but do not judge anyone's motives. [61] Socrates said, "Know thyself." Paul says, "I cannot know myself." He says that another cannot judge his motives for the simple reason that he does not even know his own motives. "If I do not know my own motives, it is for sure that you don't know them." Thus Paul does not bring himself to trial and pass judgment upon himself; he understands that that will transpire at the judgment of God. The judgment of his own conscience is not absolute and final. He is not addressing unhealthy subjectivism, but the healthy (but imperfect) judgment of conscience. Self-knowledge is more difficult than the knowledge of revealed truth.
Judging your brother's overt action when your judgment is but an echo of God's judgment revealed in the Word, is commanded in I Corinthians 5. You can know that you are judging illegitimately when your standard rests outside of Scripture, such as judging motives. Clearly, judging the motives of another places you outside the parameters of legitimate judging.
|
Devotional © Copyright by Walter A Henrichsen.