One of the most common accusations against Christians and Christianity is that they are too judgmental.

Recently, Hillary Clinton said, “ A lot of young people are leaving the Church, in part because the way they understand what Christianity has become is so judgmental, so alienating, that they think to themselves, ‘Well, I don’t need that. I don’t want to be part of that.’”

You hear this accusation all the time. Yet I find it very interesting that when people like Hillary say that “Christianity is too judgmental”, they themselves are guilty of being judgmental by the fact they are judging us as Christians by saying we’re judgmental. So when Hillary said, “Christianity has become is so judgmental, so alienating”, she was doing exactly the same thing herself: being judgmental and alienating of Christians.

 I also find it interesting that she herself, as a politician, does nothing to avoid judgmentalism. In one campaign speech Hillary stated, “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables’.” If that’s not “judgmental and alienating”, I don’t know what is…

 And so by saying that of her, I must admit that I too am being, by this definition, “judgmental”. So, how do we work our way out of this quandary, this conundrum?

In His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about this topic and this is what He said: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” So, what did Jesus mean when He said, “Do not judge”?

First of all when He went on to say,“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” He was reminding us that one day we’ll be judged by God by the very same standards we expect of others.

Then He next asked, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” In this humorous illustration, Jesus likened us to a guy trying to take a speck of sawdust out of another guy’s eye, when all the while, he himself has a plank in his own eye.

Jesus continued, “How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye.”  What He meant is that when I am tempted to pass judgment on someone else, I should first check myself out to see if I am guilty of the same thing myself. The impulse to judge within ourselves is oftentimes a signal to us that we “do the same thing”.   The traits we are so quick to observe in others are often the ones we have ourselves.  As they say, “It takes one to know one.”

If I don’t first check myself out and deal with it in my own life, then Jesus said that I am a hypocrite.  Why is it hypocrisy? Because when we go around and see all the problems in other people’s lives and totally ignore our own sin, we are hypocrites because we say we care about righteousness but we really don’t. Because if we did care about righteousness, we’d check out our own eyes first.

Note what Jesus said next: “and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” After we’ve removed the plank out of our own eye, dealt with that same issue in our own life, we are then to go, with compassion, to that brother and help him with his speck.

This is clearly what the Bible teaches elsewhere:  “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted” Galatians 6:1.

Thus we end up ministering to those who have a need in their life and in so doing, are truly fulfilling Jesus’ command to “Judge Not” and His reason for drawing our attention to it.

Be a plank remover out of your own eye first and then become a speck remover out of other people’s eyes.

In her book “Until The Final Hour; Hitler’s Last Secretary, Traudl Junge writes, “When I was 22 and eager for adventure, I was fascinated by Adolph Hitler… (I) deliberately ignored the warning voice inside of me, although I heard it clearly enough. I have learned to admit that I enjoyed working for him, almost to the bitter end. After the revelation of his crimes, I shall always live with the sense I must share the guilt.”

Like Traudl Junge, there are many who people live with tremendous guilt and regret in their lives over things they have done in the past. In my role as a pastor, I have counselled a number of people battling guilt over many things such as an illicit affair they got into or an abortion they had.

Because we are created in the image of God, whenever we engage in wrongdoing, our conscience will alert us to it and we will experience guilt.

In the Bible, David King of Israel wrote of his experience of guilt in Psalms 38:4-8: “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.”

Perhaps today you are struggling with guilt in your life over things you have done that you know are wrong. How do you get rid of the guilt in your life?

I know there are some people try who simply try to ignore it. I remember once seeing a bumper sticker: “Screw guilt.” But that doesn’t work. But if people are honest, the guilt of their sins haunts them.

Others will do anything to to try to relieve their guilt. They’ll try to cope by taking drugs or getting drunk or going to therapy or various other things that they hope will distract their minds:  go to Disneyland; thrills; travel; become workaholics. Anything to cover up the things I wish I hadn’t done in my life.

But here’s the good news: the God who created us never intended that we remain in that guilt. He designed guilt as a way of leading us to repentance and receiving of forgiveness.

And we receive that forgiveness by coming to God and asking Him for it: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9.) Because Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty for all my sins and made it possible for me to be forgiven.

Lee Roberts tells how one summer as a camp counsellor, the boys in  his cabin were playing with a 10 foot tree branch, pretending it was a javelin. One of the boys accidentally threw the “javelin” and broke the windshield of Lee’s car. They went to Lee and  told him what had happened. Joe, one of the boys admitted, “I had a stick and threw it and it kind of left a mark on your windshield.”

Lee went and inspected the damage. Sure enough, there was a large crack in the windshield. He then went back to the boy, who by now was petrified over what he had done. Lee says, “Taking his shoulders in my hands and looking squarely in his eyes, I said, ‘Joe, these are the sort of things insurance is for. Don’t worry. Relax. It’s all taken care of.’”

Roberts concludes, “At that point, I could feel the tension drain from his body!”

Often we are hounded by fear, guilt and shame. At those times, Jesus comes to us, takes our shoulders into His hands, looks at squarely in our eyes and says, “These are the sorts of things My blood is for. Don’t worry. Relax. It’s all taken care of.”