You're the Man!!

When Nathan the prophet said this to David, it didn't have the same feel as our common "you da man" statement of today. David had just heard a story by Nathan and made his judgment regarding justice for that situation. David thought he was passing judgment on someone else but in fact had just condemned himself.

There is another princple in scripture that I have used for years to evaluate my own heart and use as a barometer on other people's evaluations of situations. Romans 2:1 is summarized like this (Ed's version) that which you judge another of you are guilty of the same thing yourself. Judgment here is talking about declaring someone's motive which we cannot possibly know. This is different than saying you're an adulterer if you're having an affair with someone else's wife. That's just the truth. Stating the facts, but how often have we heard, "you're judging me!" Declaring a heart motive is different as in, "He just wants to get brownie points, that's why he's being nice." That probably means, that is why I would be nice in that situation.

I heard in the news today that former President Jimmy Carter accused Joe Wilson of being a racist, for shouting out, "you lie", to President Obama during his speech. You know, honestly,
racist motivation for that statement never crossed my mind. I know when I make judgments on someone's motivation behind a statement or action it is usually like the scripture says, because I am guilty of the same thing myself. In other words, I judge from my own personal history and perspective. When I think someone is secretly talking about me, it is usually because I have something against someone and have either been thinking about or talking about someone in an accusatory manner.

I have heard people say over the years that "so and so" is probably just doing that to get attention. What that often reveals is the secret condition of our own heart. Someone with "race" on the mind themselves will assume that everyone is thinking like that. And.... when we are being judgmental is usually when we think that everyone is judging us.

My suggestion is to use the principle of Romans 2:1 as a self-examination recipe. I found that it has often exposed my own attitudes to me when I thought I was just being very discerning about someone else. Try it! It's better to judge ourselves, as Paul said, so we do not incur the judgment of the world.