Speak more slowly! The duty of self control in making judgments.
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This article has been written by John Musyimi and originally published on his blog, Dear Saint. Injili has partnered with the Dear Saint blog to host this content and provide audio versions and translations of the articles.
I can’t tell you how many times I have made a hurried assumption about something I heard or saw, commented on it, and then it turned out to be skewed. We are warned in the New Testament not to judge with an unrighteous judgment. This is characterised as a judgment solely on appearances. (See John 7.24). I, to my shame, have made far too many sincere, yet unrighteous judgments about people or situations (and some, not sincere). From pastoral experience, I know that I am not alone in this.
Why do we do this?
Several reasons could be given to explain why so many of us fall into this kind of danger. For starters, we might just be the hapless victims of pure deceit on the part of someone we trusted but shouldn’t have. Sometimes we are operating based on a lie or a truncated statement of truth which leads us to believe the wrong thing.
Other times, we are under pressure to make some sort of decision or recommendation and so we act based on a stereotype as opposed to actual on the ground facts about a person or thing. Stereotypes do typically precede prejudgment. Sometimes we will, in our pride, pass off some opinion or decision as based on deep thinking but it is really the product of a brief consultation with a firm stereotype held in our minds.
There are also occasions when our quick, yet erroneous judgments are based on a sinful tendency to believe the worst about others. When we’ve considered envy in previous articles, we’ve sought to be warned about the danger of nourishing our souls with negative reports and subsequent thoughts about others. We can inject an addictive fantasy about others’ weaknesses into our veins and use it to sustain our sinful pride and medicate our personal insecurities. This tendency, then, produces opinions from us that are not grounded in the truth.
There’s more to be said at length about why we can be quick in our judgments. In quick summary, however, let us add laziness and fear. Laziness emerges in our reluctance to garner the energy it may take to drill down and secure the actual truth. The element of fear comes in when we shrink back at the prospect of confronting or disagreeing with those whose minds are already made up and wish that you would agree with their view of things.
Tragedy and Hope
We need not comment on the kinds of relational damages that can result from our acting heedlessly and speaking rashly. We are all too painfully aware of it in our own lives. For many of us, the damage still haunts us and there still lies many un-exorcised ghosts of unresolved conflicts that plague us even today.
Is there hope for us? Thankfully, Yes. Recently, in reading the book of Proverbs, I have come across several of them which offer wisdom on these types of matters. Consider 2 examples:
“The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless.” - Proverbs 14:15-16 ESV
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” -Proverbs 16:32 ESV
These types of proverbs put forward wisdom as being able to rule one’s spirit and therefore approach the work of making judgments with care and thought. James, in the New Testament, echoes this wisdom by calling saints to be slow to speak. Jesus, also, has commanded us to first do the work of removing logs from our own eyes first in order that we may ‘see clearly’ to take out the speck in someone else’s eye. Anything else risks embroiling us in some degree of hypocrisy for we may be unwittingly guilty of a similar species of error. (See Matt 7.1-5).
Patience and Self control
This wisdom proposes that there is an element to all this that has to do with patience and spiritual self control. Things are not always as they appear or as they are first presented as. The ability to withhold judgment, rein in one’s anger (or similar emotional reactions) and instead to give careful thought to an issue will serve us well.
These dual qualities of ‘patience’ and ‘self control’ are highlighted in Scripture as a part of the fruit of the Spirit. (See Gal 5.22) Christian sanctification will lead to growth in these particular areas. This, however, means that there will be a spiritual labor involved on our part. Fruit will not grow where we are not tending our spiritual garden by grace.
Heeding these biblical instructions requires that we slow down and examine ourselves first before making judgments. It requires that we wage war against the sinful forces in our own souls that skew our vision and make us hurried in our reactions and commentary. It calls us to move at the speed, not of our riled up emotions, but that of careful, cautious thought; the kind that assumes that appearance is not all there is to a situation. This does not mean that you ought to adopt a cynical and always suspicious view of appearances, but it does mean that you adopt the mindset that a righteous judgment requires more than just that first glance or impression.
The gospel
Is there hope that we will be able to do this? Thankfully yes. Yes because the gospel is true. There isn't a sin that plagues us that hasn't been addressed in the atonement work of Christ. Furthermore, because the same power that raised Christ from the dead resides in us who have trusted in Him, we can be able to wage successful war against these tendencies in us by that same power. Because of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our hearts, we can slow down and be delivered from a quick temper, or from being easily gripped by envy, pride, anxiety, laziness, fear or a whole host of other attitudes that push us into making rash judgments and opinions.
So, dear saint, are you looking to make better judgments? Seek growth in self control and patience. Labor to clear up your own perception by engaging with the logs in your soul and by then acquiring whatever information is necessary to understand a situation well.
Thank you for accessing this article, brought to you by the Dear Saint blog in partnership with Injili ministries. The Dear Saint blog is ran by John Musyimi, who serves as the Lead Pastor of North Point Baptist Church along Kiambu Road, Nairobi, Kenya. You can find this and more articles directly on his blog at johnmusyimi.com/blog.
