Judgment and Justice
Today I speak of judgment, mercy, and our individual ability and responsibility to change hearts and minds into understanding the Nature of God! Our ability to change nations by one act at a time within our daily life.
It’s not our place to determine what is fair or just if we are partial to one side of any given topic, especially within our political landscape today. According to James 2:1, “we should show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
If we judge through the lens of our own partiality, we have already failed to be just. I see this happening all around me these days.
We all have an ability to “feel” other’s thoughts especially as a reaction to our words. This can sometimes cause us to be silent so that we don’t feel the spiritual arrows from a brother or sister. Yet, if we are impartial, remove judgment, and walk with Jesus in our daily affairs, those potential arrows will turn into flowers shared by all.
Conversely, some people show their judgment and impartiality with the belief that we would surely agree with them on the given topic. That’s judgment a priori, or before the fact. That person may be shocked to learn I hold a directly opposing opinion. In those cases, I do all within my power so that they won’t feel arrows coming from me… only flowers. One method to get straight to flowers is I accept the humor behind the presumption that I may agree.
My Foundational Beliefs
First to understand me, you must understand what I know in my heart—my faith in action.
I believe in the one high, ever-present, all-powerful Creator of everything as the Heavenly Father. All creation, including all religions, people, places, natural laws, emotions, energy, language, the flora and fauna, the universe itself is the Word of God!
I believe Jesus is the righteous Son of God and was sent by God as the Son of Man to lead us to the Heavenly Father.
I believe the Holy Spirit connects each of us to the heavenly father as we allow.
Let’s Process Judgment
To get started, I need to poke the hornets nest a bit. Be conscious of how these phrases make you feel:
If I were to say, “President Trump is a fascist!”
If I were to say, “God Bless President Trump!”
If I were to say, “Charlie Kirk was an exceptional Man of faith!”
If I were to say, “Charlie Kirk was a racist, transphobic bigot!”
If I were to say, “Those poor immigrants are unfairly getting deported.”
If I were to say, “I agree that criminal illegal immigrants should be deported.”
If I were to say, “Isreal is a nation worthy of our support.”
If I were to say, “Isreal is committing genocide on the Palestinians.”
If I were to say, “The Palestinians and Hamas are evil rapists and murderers.”
If I were to say, “Black lives matter!”
If I were to say, “All lives matter!”
Pick any topic above knowing that I purposely attempted to find at least one or more that might impact you. Don’t throw arrows my way—you likely have no idea where I stand on any of them.
Now, check your judgment for each item and then ask yourself, “how or where am I forming my judgments?” Do you let your own echo chamber (exclusively like-minded friends, specific news you watch or read) dictate how you should feel, or “Judge” on the topic or person? Is the Father of Lies, the devil himself, corrupting your Christ Path in some way? Can you even endure listening to an opposing view or do you avoid the person on the other side of the argument like they might be a leper? Are you finding yourself impartial or being prejudiced?
“With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.” Proverbs 11:9
The Right Approach that Can Change Everything
If you want to change nations, listen to what I say and walk now with Jesus. I am not here to convince you that any of the above statements are the right path or thought. I’m here to change how you think about God’s directive for us to make a difference in the world where all those prior statements objectively exist in our current discourse. Which ones did you make a judgment on? The irony is they were judgment themselves.
Jesus, during his ministry, travels to Jerusalem around AD27. He chose the path that led through Samaria (now essentially modern-day Gaza, the west bank, and Jerusalem).
The Jewish people of Jacob’s tribe felt this place (where Jacob’s Well is located) was their birthright but after living there nearly 1000 years in peace they were conquered and exiled by the Babylonians who also destroyed the first temple. This was historically ”The Land of Isreal” or the “Promised Land” through all of history and has been made up at various times of the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Levites, Jebusites, Hivites, Sumarians, Egyptions, Perizzites, Girgashites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Greeks, European Christian crusaders, the British, Modern Jews, Muslims, Arabs… The Land of Isreal has been the epicenter of diverse religious fervor and interest for 4500 years!
Travelling through Samaria didn’t sit well with his Jewish apostles. Samarians were hated by Jews even though the Samarians were also Israelites but who had intermarried with foreigners and broke from Jewish traditions and thus were working outside of God’s Law. Jesus told his apostles he was doing The Father’s work and making eternal bridges and proclaiming healing from the past and present conceptions. This is where the Parable of the Good Samaritan came from:
Jesus said in Luke 10:25, “A Jewish man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’
37 The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus then told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”
The Ultimate Challenge
Always remember, no person is perfectly sinless. So, consider this:
A Christian will hurt you
A church will challenge your faith
A politician will anger you
A nation will bomb you
A news source will lie to you
A neighbor will defile your peace
A different race will persecute you
A son will rob you
A wife will commit adultery
A man will murder
The bible and Jesus teach us to be just and impartial. Without judgment. As James writes, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” James 20:12.
We all eat at different tables with different customs. We all believe what we believe in. You may not believe that Trump’s policies are just, but others certainly do.
There are sects within Christianity that I personally would not engage in.
There are Muslims I would not choose to associate with.
I have some neighbors that purposely do things that do not promote a friendly, peaceful community.
For those I find agreement with in their cultural or religious endeavors, I would thus welcome them and the topics the share at my table. The good neighbor, the politician I admire, the faithful I align with. I would honor the customs of others I agree with. Still, I must check my judgment— am I missing something I could learn and grow from by consoting with others I’m not partial to? Are these venues where I am most comfortable my echo chambers that ultimately diminish my ability to be merciful and impartial to the categories of people I don’t align with?
In all these cases, I should hold no person, place, or thing in contempt. They are all created by God and, by my faith in God, are accepted by me. Let’s consider what the Apostle Paul wrote. Mind you, Paul was the walking, talking, persecutor of Christians before witnessing Jesus himself at Damascus. So, for Paul to write the following is simply miraculous:
Romans 14:1-23:
14 “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:
‘As surely as I live, says the Lord,
every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.
22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Let’s not forget, we certainly will try to reconcile our judgment through confirmation bias—Trump said that racist thing—I’m sure of it. He called for insurrection on January 6th, 2020—I’m sure of it. So, to prove George at work wrong I’ll spend 5 seconds on Google until I find some site that proclaims all of these things to be completely true! Then I can be done, happy and faithful in my judgment.
Oh, but for another few seconds searching while trying to be impartial, I may learn he isn’t racist or had called for insurrection—that someone else’s judgment and corruption of the facts formed my opinion and final judgment. Just the act of searching probably meant I was in judgment (one way or another) in the first place.
So, if you find yourself today in judgment or contempt for someone, some religion, some idea, some people, or even some thing, remember all these came from God. Did God not create free will? [Well, as an aside, one might argue that one, because God also created wives. Sorry, I digress in levity].
Yes, free will exists but not without consequence, good or bad. What feels right, or good to me, may not be right or good for you but, nevertheless, we both are the creation of God. My judgment of you or your views is not living in God’s grace.
Thus, I seek to understand with compassion. If I have sadness for the deported immigrant, but I don’t judge the one who deported him. Instead, I comfort the deported and weave God’s promise into my mission for all participants in the event. I may choose to praise the deporter that made our streets safer of the convicted criminal illegal immigrant while also working to forgive the deported criminal.
The prosecutor of a policy I don’t agree with requires me to first forgive so that I may have a compassionate, non-hyperbolic talk with the one I disagree with. If I went at them with judgment, contempt, or anger I am working against God and therefore against myself. Doing so will serve nothing and no one but certainly will create more pain and suffering for all of us.
In leaving my partiality and judgment at the door, I may find I agree with much, or even all, of the policy and disagree with other parts. In that spirit of discourse, we may even come to a completely new conclusion or better policy together that has yet been considered! Hallelujah! God is now smiling for we have gown and healed our contempt by removing judgment of our “opponent”. We have forgiven by action, and not by coercion.
I don’t have to condone any particular act, but I must learn to love the actor under all circumstances. The thief, the adulterer, the liar, the people of a warring nation, the politician, the passive aggressive neighbor, the murderer. I must put on a new self and forgive so that I may help usher in God’s plan for all of humanity. This is the New Covenant foretold by Jeramiah and ushered in by Jesus Christ.
Put On the New Self
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3)
In Conclusion
As for changing nations, it is written in Psalm 117 to “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us; and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” This psalm is sung daily during the Sukkot or the “Feast of the Tabernacles”.
Take note, two years ago on October 7th, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel on the day after the end of Sukkot. Some won’t invite Isreal to their table, others won’t invite Hamas. As long as we are judging any side, the Sukkot of all Sukkots cannot happen despite the fact that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all began with Abraham.
In recent years, an amazing phenomenon has been reported across the Muslim world. It’s too big to ignore. Muslim men and women are encountering Jesus in dreams and visions. How appropriate and clever for God to send these messages in dreams since interpreting dreams are a pillar of Islamic tradition and are not to be ignored.
These dreams have drawn thousands of Muslims to explore and convert to Christianity. Underground churches are being stood up, Muslims are starting to quietly evangelize. It reminds me of the early days of Christianity throughout the world where Christians prayed in secret.
It was reported in February 2024 that some 200 Muslims from Gaza came in the same week to Christ after they witnessed Jesus in their dreams. When they came together, many realized they had had the same dream.
It is clear to me that we should invite all peoples to our table, our Tabernacle, no matter how we might differ. It is our differences that strengthen us as long as we Love one another.
So, if you can do this, so can all of us. If I can do this, maybe the recipient of my Grace through Christ will find ways they too can pay it forward in the same or similar way. The Truth will spread as Holy Fire throughout all of humanity, our lives will all be changed, and so will all nations!!
For those that do not follow Christ, you still have the ability to follow these concepts. No external source or “Source” will simply give Grace to you. It must be a covenant you make for yourself. In my opinion, God and Jesus help me on my path but it isn’t a prerequisite to take the righteous step forward. I support you!
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 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?” (Matthew 7:1-3)
Brett M. Dawson 2025
Brett@Christpath.net