Partial Judges

James 2:4

Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

One of the greatest sins that is never addressed is the judgment of another’s motives and feelings. God knew our sin nature was partial by nature. He was specific in addressing that the believer is not to have faith with respect of persons. God knew that once we become a respecter of persons, we will judge those who are truly no different from the ones we respect. For instance, the one we respect can do something wrong and we will overlook it because we respect that person. On the other hand, one that we have no respect for can do the same thing and we will call them out. It all comes down to our personal and selfish agenda of making our friends look good despite the wrong they do. God says that when we become a respecter of persons, we will become partial in our judgment.

We have all seen partial judges and the damage they cause to justice. If a certain president is not part of their party, these partial judges will do everything they can to stop his agenda by making rulings against him even though they know their rulings are wrong. We have seen partial judges treat one person differently because of their money or fame, which only causes justice to be avoided. It is critical for the sake of justice that judges are impartial.

Likewise, it is critical for believers to be impartial toward people if God will use us to reach all types of people. You cannot become a partial judge and be a good Christian at the same time. What you do for one or against one you must do for all if you want to treat everyone justly. There are two areas of everyone’s lives that we must guard against so as not to become a partial judge.

First, we must not judge another’s motives. Judging the motives for why someone did something is an unjust judgment because we don't know what someone’s motives are for their actions. We may think we know, but there is no way you can another’s motives. To judge someone’s motives is to place yourself as an equal with God; that never ends well for that individual. You may think you know someone’s motives, but because you don't know their heart, you can't know their motives. Just because you can't trust someone does not mean you ought to judge their motives. Instead of judging another’s motives, the best action is to stop being a judge at all and let God sort it out.

Second, we must not judge another’s feelings. Again, there is no way you can know what another is feeling. Many have made judgments about how another is feeling and have hurt meaningful relationships. How many times have you been wrong about what another was feeling? Unfortunately, we have all judged someone’s feelings and have been wrong. You cannot be a judge of another’s feelings and expect to keep a good relationship with them.

Many marriages have been hurt because of a spouse who made themself a judge and wrongly judged the motives and feelings of their spouse. Many churches have been hindered from reaching the lost because of believers who placed themselves as God and wrongly judged another’s motives and feelings. Our job is not to judge the motives and feelings of others, but to help build the lives of others. Focus your life on building others, and you will find that you have no time to judge the motives and feelings of others.