Being Judgmental

Simon Cowell, on American Idol, has taken a lot of flack, due to the fact that he is generally somewhat harsh with the contestants. Quite frankly, that’s his job; that’s what they pay him to do. Some of the contestants actually seem to take what he says pretty hard, and yet, they keep showing up. Does anybody get on the show without watching it first? And, realistically, even if the contestant really is very, very good, should they expect everyone to like them? Should they expect to never be criticized? Even the very best singers have gotten criticized…
There is something to be said about not being judgmental. Jesus said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1) Of course, one can hardly blame Simon, as I said, he’s doing his job. No one should go on American Idol and expect to not get skewered by Simon. Likewise, in everyday life, there will be some that agree with us, and some that disagree. We shouldn’t let that interfere with doing what God has laid on our hearts. We shouldn’t entirely ignore criticism, either, because sometimes even harsh, really wrong criticism can help us to get better at whatever it is that we are doing. Sometimes we get take it very personally when someone criticizes something that we are doing. If what we are doing is for God, then we shouldn’t take it personally. Samuel took it somewhat personally when Israel demanded a king; God had to remind him that they were rejecting God, Himself, not Samuel (1 Samuel 8:6-7).
At the same time, one must be careful: Just because I know that I’m doing a work for God, and all the wrong people are criticizing me for doing what I’m doing, it doesn’t necessarily follow that what I’m doing is what God wants me to do. There was a time, in the Old Testament, that King Saul declared a fast because the army of the Philistines was upon Israel, and it didn’t look good. Saul’s son, Jonathan, didn’t get the word of the fast, he took an armorbearer and went out to scout the Philistine camp. They got close to the camp, and Jonathan fleeced the Lord, asking for a sign. The sign that he got, indicated that he and his armorbearer should attack, so they did. That must have taken a lot of faith. As you might guess, Israel won the battle, thanks to Jonathan. On the way back, though, Jonathan saw some honey dripping from a tree, and he tasted some of it. Seems only right, doesn’t it? He saved Israel, isn’t he entitled to a little honey—especially since he didn’t know that the king had declared a fast—but the people around him told him about the fast, and he basically went off on his father (not considering that maybe it was because the people were fasting that God delivered the army into Jonathan’s hand—or maybe not, perhaps what Jonathan said was essentially correct, that if the King hadn’t declared a fast, the victory might have been much greater, but he shouldn’t have criticized the king in the ears of the people like that). It ended up, that the Lord revealed that there was sin in the camp, lots were cast, and Jonathan was found to be the sinner. Even then, Jonathan thought that his sin was tasting the honey. Tasting the honey wasn’t sin, he did not know about the fast! But when he found out about the fast, instead of taking the humble side, and explaining that he didn’t know, he justified himself and tried to blame the King. Isn’t it amazing how quickly one can go from being absolutely right to being completely wrong? The Bible says to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. Because just because you were yesterday, doesn’t necessarily mean that you are today.