The rush to judgment

Mike Nifong, the North Carolina prosecutor who was relieved of his law license last week, made a mockery of the notion of justice. A woman accused some young athletes of the crime of rape. As he rightly should have done, he began an investigation. Very soon investigators attached to the case realized that the evidence was not supporting the woman's allegations, but Mr. Nifong had already gone on the public record with harshly accusatory statements and he stubbornly chose to stick with his initial assumptions through the legal process. He made choices to withhold exculpatory evidence from the courts. Finally, justice caught up to this man who lacked the integrity to be a custodian of the law and he was officially disgraced! He failed in his role as a prosecutor because he made a premature decision about the guilt of the accused, instead of seeking the truth that the case would develop, and waiting for the judge and jury to form the judgment.

Some of the regrets in my life are centered around a tendency shared by a majority of human beings - to form a pre-mature judgment about the actions of another. More times than I want to remember, I have jumped to conclusions about what really happened or just assumed that I knew why someone was acting in a way that I thought wrong though I had no actual knowledge of their thought process. I did it with my kids when they were young! Sometimes I handed out discipline before I knew enough of the facts. Even today, I too often decide that I know the real problem, only to later I find out that my assumptions were faulty. One of the deacons who serves in the church of which I serve as pastor has warned me - "Keep your hands off the keyboard for at least 24 hours!" He knows the problems that can be created with a too-quick email response from a person who only thinks he has the facts straight. Often I find that where I thought I "knew" that the other person had some evil intent; in reality, they were afraid, or did not know of alternatives, or they were overcome by their situation. A person who is not making the right choices needs someone who will take time to listen, who will work with them, who is patient while they work their way to a place of wholeness. A rush to judgment precludes justice, shuts down dialogue, and potentially destroys relationships.

Why do we do it? Prejudice, ignorance, stupidity, arrogance; even my own fear, are several reasons I've done it. How about you?

Jesus instructs us with this warning -
"Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. "
And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?
How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?
Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye." (Matthew 7:1-5, NLT)

Jesus is not telling us to suspend good sense, to drop all standards of right and wrong in favor of some fluffy notion of love and acceptance. We need discretion! Yes, there is a time to say to another, "We need to talk, because the choices you are making are not right. They do not please God. They are harmful to others and to yourself." However, we must be exceedingly cautious about climbing into God's seat of judgment from which we hand down our conclusions in the assumption that we have all knowledge about the motives and actions of others. And we need the heart of mercy and grace that moved God when He saw us in our need to come and save us from our sins! While He can choose destruction, He graciously offers us forgiveness and reconciliation; patiently works with us to make us like Jesus, and gives us His Spirit to live in us to work the new nature into maturity. "God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost." (2 Peter 3:9, CEV)

May the Lord help us to be patient, too. If we must speak of judgment, let us do so, not with any sense of gloating or joy at the destruction of another, but with genuine sorrow that they refused the grace of God to their own loss. When you start to form an opinion, or voice a conclusion about another today - I pray that the Spirit will restrain you saying, "Are you sure about that? Do you have all the facts?" And I pray that we will understand the word from the Word that says, "...continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8, NLT)