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Judging Good
by Rose Murdock "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." Genesis 3:7 The first thing Adam and Eve did after their eyes were opened to evil was that they began to judge. God had said that everything He made was good but yet as soon as they became aware of evil they began to try and judge for themselves what was good and what was evil. And they started by looking at themselves—their own physical body. They made the judgment that they were not good the way they were. They saw they were naked, decided something was wrong with that, and they tried to cover themselves up with fig leaves. Ever since the fall, mankind has tried to set himself up as the judge of what is good and what is evil. What is right and what is wrong. What is true and what is not. Yet the only way we will find our answers is to accept the fact that God is the judge of what is good and what is evil. God is the judge of what is right and what is wrong. It’s His standard that shows us what is true and what is not. And with the first judgment Adam and Eve made they disagreed with God. A Christian’s goal in making judgments, or having opinions, should be to come into agreement with God. God made us with a mind of our own not so we could put our opinions above His but so that we could choose to agree with Him and submit to His judgments willingly. We don’t want to give our opinion of what we think is right if our judgment is not based on what God has said is right. God has an opinion! And we would do well to seek out His opinion! Paul made the comment in 1 Corinthians 7:25 that "concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." Before he gave his opinion on this subject, he clarified that this was not a command of the Lord but rather his own opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. Paul was seeking to bring his own opinions into line with God’s, not to try and make independent judgments. He understood that God’s judgments are the truth and standard we are to live by. Even Jesus brought out this point to the one who called Him ‘Good Teacher.’ "Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." Mark 10:17-18 NKJ Before Jesus even addressed this man’s question He pointed out that this man was making a judgment call by calling Jesus good. Jesus wouldn’t even call Himself good unless God the Father did. Jesus knew that deciding what is good or not good is a judgment to be left to God the Father alone. Even when we worship God and tell Him that He is good are we doing so because He has conformed to our opinion of what is ‘good’ or are we agreeing with His definition of good? The Bible tells us ‘O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endures forever.’ Psalm 107:1. When we give thanks to Him, worship Him and tell Him He is good it should be because we’re agreeing with His judgment of what is good and right, and not because we think we know what is good. Who are we to judge God? When we understand this we won’t be so quick to want to pull the speck out of our brother’s eye. We will want to be careful that we’re not looking at our brother’s eye through our own judgment of what is good, right and true but through God’s. We weren’t made to carry the burden of judgment on ourselves. When we simply surrender to the Lord we will relieve a lot of stress and pressure in decision making off of ourselves. We’ll be able to rest in Him because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. |
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