Solving A “Critical” Problem

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 750 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

We need to be more discerning and less judgmental. It’s a tough balancing act.

On the one hand, we need more discernment. The legendary baseball player, Ted Williams, had such an intuition for the way a bat was supposed to feel that he once returned to the maker a batch of his Louisville Sluggers because he sensed that the handles were not quite right. It was discovered that the handles were off by five-thousandths of an inch. And when once challenged to find from among six bats the one that was half an ounce heavier than the others, he quickly did. Jesus wants us to develop that kind of intuition when it comes to moral evaluations.

But he doesn’t want to see any scowling faces of condemnation among his followers. In one episode of The Simpsons, Homer sees his born-again neighbor, Maude Flanders. "Hey, I haven't seen you in a couple of weeks. Where have you been?" Maude replies, "Oh, I've been away at a Bible camp, learning to be more judgmental."

Ouch.

So, can we improve our ability to discern what is morally “off” without falling into sour judgmentalism? And, on the other hand, can we quit being judgmental without also weakening our moral insight?

As I said, it’s a tough balancing act. In Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus called on us to have moral insight as well as compassion. This Sunday, July 15, we’ll see how to practice his words in a world where, strangely, people judge you for how nonjudgmental you are. Join us at the “Bold Blend” service or the 10:45am “Smooth Blend” service, or listen online Monday (iTunes; website).

By the way, many thanks for your comments about last week’s message, “You Can Win Over Worry.” This week may be a good time to tell your friends about our online sermon archive, where they can listen to the “Win Over Worry” message for free. There they can also download the sermon outline and the Common Ground discussion guide. And don’t forget the “Daily Cup”--each weekday get a brief e-mailed devotional based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Ask Herb to sign you up (herb@hbcaustin.org)!