Not Judging ourselves

When Paul was addressing the problems of the Cornithians he focused heavily on their judging attitudes. He showed that this level of behavior was not reflective of the Kingdom mindset. Instead it was the same as the world around them. He showed them they should not judge but leave the judging to the one who is authorized to do it.

In 1 Corinthians 4:3 In the Amplified Bible he says this

But [as for me personally] it matters very little to me that I may be judged by you or any human court [on this point]; in fact, I do not even judge myself.

4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

One of the ways we can have a kingdom mindset and also be happy in our commitment to Jesus Christ is to allow him to judge us completely as he is the authority in judging all of mankind. Paul shows us that in verse 4 that he embraced this in his life so deeply that others’ opinions of him did not matter at all to him and even what he thought of himself didn’t matter just as much.

How is this possible to judge ourselves? We do so often when we look inwardly. When we put our thoughts of ourselves too high or too low. When we condemn ourselves for our behavior past and present. Or we praise ourselves too highly.

Paul’s ability to not judge himself came from a total commitment to God through Jesus Christ. This commitment submitted even what he thought about himself to Christ and disowned it himself. The result was a high inner peace that can only be achieved by letting go of himself.

We all wish that the opinions of others do not matter at all and we are not affected by them but in this world that seems nearly impossible. Judging ourselves can easily be as hard to reconcile with as sometimes we feel down about ourselves and other times like we are better than everyone around us.

God and his Son Jesus Christ know us better than we know ourselves. Therefore their opinion is the only one that holds weight in the end. Therefore it’s only their judging of us that matters period.

To achieve the peace he wants us to have in this life we must submit to him all things including the opinions of others about ourselves and our own opinions of ourselves. Once we completely reconcile these things with God we see that our judging of others starts to follow the same path. We remove our judging of others then we will have a peace that only God can offer us that extends to others. We see in Proverbs 16:7 that when a man’s ways please the Lord then he causes his enemies to be at peace with him. That level of peace is what God is trying to get us to follow and commit to. It is the only way to achieve a kingdom type peace in those things during this life.

Your Brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig