Things Mama Taught Me: "Don't Be Quick to Judge"

My mother was not quick to judge the motives of other people. She censured actions when necessary, but she knew that a person's deepest desires and intents could not be readily discerned. "The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7) She often quoted a few lines from a poem by the English poet and philanthropist, Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864).

Judge not the workings of his brain
And of his heart thou canst not see;
What looks to thy dim eyes a stain
In God's pure light may only be
A scar, brought from some well-won field,
Where thou would'st only faint and yield.

In plainer language, Mama was saying, "You can't really tell what a person is thinking or believing. You don't know what they've been through to make them what they are. It's quite possible you would not have done as well as they have, so don't be too quick to judge!"

About judging, Jesus said, "Don't!" “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. (Matthew 7:1, 2) The Apostle Paul wrote these cautions to the church at Rome, "You may think you can condemn such people, [all kinds of evildoers listed in previous verses] but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things . . . Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? They are responsible to the Lord, so let him judge whether they are right or wrong. And with the Lord’s help, they will do what is right and will receive his approval . . . So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall." (Romans 2:1; 14:4; 13)

And that's all that Mama would say about that!

MaryMartha

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

The rest of Procter's poem is well worth reading (3 more stanzas). It is found in "The Poems of Adelaide A. Procter," a volume from the New York Public Library digitized by Google, and located at
http://www.archive.org/details/poemsadelaideap01procgoog
Another of her poems, perhaps more famous, is also there, "The Lost Chord."