Call It Judging If You Want

Hey world.

Judging. In my opinion this is the greatest of all sins. For it is looking down on a creation of God as inferior to you. It is the worst kind of pride. I hate judging so much. Read the book of John and try to judge someone after reading that (especially ch. 8). But there is a problem. Judging has become an excuse for so many Christians. You see, as brothers and sisters in Christ we are also called to look out for each other. We must help other believers stay on the straight and narrow. But Christians have made it "unbiblical" to do so anymore. If you try to show a believer their faults they pull out Scripture on you saying, "Hey idiot! Pull that plank out of YOUR eye first!" or "Judge not lest you be judged!"
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But sadly...this person does not know that they are
1. Quoting Scripture out of context
2. hurting themselves.
Judging and pointing out "planks" are only wrong because PRIDE is always at the center of them. However, sometimes people just care about you and don't want you to hurt yourself. OR...sometimes you are doing Christianity more harm than good and you need to be stopped (speaking for myself too).
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I was reading in my devotions last night in 1 Corinthians 5 (please turn there). Paul is writing to the church in Corinth because, quite frankly, they are screwed up. The people are LITERALLY more immoral than people OUTSIDE the church. Paul is frustrated because the people completely misunderstood what he meant when he last wrote them. Paul had told the people of Corinth to stay away from sexually immoral people. So, the people in the church never associated with sexually immoral people outside the church when many of they themselves were even more sexually immoral. Paul writes this chapter to tell them they are 100% wrong. He never meant for them to stay away from sexually immoral unbelievers, but to stay away from sexually immoral CHRISTIANS!!! This is completely the opposite from what we think today. After all, isn't that judging? Everyone has their mistakes after all. But think about. This is pretty much the one sin that people can SEE! Christians (even leaders of the church) were having obvious sexual relations that were completely unbiblical, and nobody cared. In verse 11 Paul says that we shouldn't even eat with a sexually immoral Christian. NO ASSOCIATION. Why? Isn't that harsh? Isn't that prideful? No. No it is not. Yes. We all have our mistakes. I have plenty of them. But Christians are supposed to be different from the world. That is the WHOLE POINT! If unbelievers look at us and see our LEADERS doing the exact same things as them, why in the world would they believe ANYTHING we said?
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Is it easy to disassociate from other believers? No. Is it out of pride? No. Do we still try to help them? Yes. Because they are our brothers and sisters and we love and need them. But if someone is on fire you don't let them hang around with people that are not. You take them out, push them to the ground, and get rid of the fire. And you do it in love. So call it judging is you want, but when someone approaches you with your faults. Listen. Listen carefully. They have a better view than you. Read your bible. Figure out if they are right. But you know what...even if you find nothing wrong about what you are doing. Maybe it's still time to stop. Better to not have a good thing, than to lose your relationship with a brother or sister. Remember...it's not about you. It's not about me. It's not about this world. It's not even about Christians. It's about love. It's about Jesus.
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Lastly, don't be afraid to tell others about areas of their lives that need attention. As long as it's in love. It will help them. It will help all Christians. And it most assuredly will help the unbelievers. And if they get mad at you. It's not your fault. They just have some growing up to do. And don't we all.