Judging Rightly

I grew up in the 1950s and early 1960s in the Santa Clara Valley of California, now known as the Silicon Valley. It was a time before the valley was covered by endless tracts of homes and shopping malls. I always loved the yearly spring blossoms falling onto the floor of the orchards, resembling a snow-covered landscape. 

I started my first job picking fruit at age nine in Mr. Dardanelli’s orchard just across the street from our house. One day a team of workers, a family from Mexico, came to help with the harvest. I was amazed at how good and fast they worked, bent over all day long, picking the fallen prunes that lay on the ground. In the following summers, I worked with these families, both in the orchards and on my father’s construction sites. My first experience with a different culture was so positive, I’ve been told that I have Mexican blood in my veins. 

My impressions and understanding of these hard workers came from what they modeled to me. I could use their actions and attitudes as a valid indicator of their work ethics or their character. Jesus said we can judge by what is left in the wake of someone’s life. The eternal condition of each soul, however, is a judgment reserved only for Him.

If we don’t want to remain gullible and naïve, we will need to take courage and discern (judge) fruit, whether good or bad, and act accordingly. The question is how to do so with wisdom and a “seeing heart.” We are absolutely dependent on listening for God’s input. 

I don’t think there is anything quite so easy as to misjudge someone. Afraid to judge wrongly, we close our eyes. On the other hand, whether we like it or not, we are judging others and ourselves all the time—without Holy Spirit discernment.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples to beware of false prophets who were really wolves in sheep’s clothing. “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act…just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions” (Matthew 7:16, 20).

Sometimes it is obvious. We see leaders who push for socialism, Marxism, communism, and Islamists who are at war with our Judeo-Christian roots. We must stand in opposition to leaders who appoint rogue judges. We have seen violent terrorists, rapists, murderers, and drug dealers released back on the streets, while Christians are thrown in jail for praying on our sidewalks. We must choose alternative education rather than have our sons and daughters be indoctrinated by woke ideologies. Even under threats, we call out misuse, fraud, and abuse. 

Justice, law and order, and what is right and good according to God’s Word have been labeled “political.” Parts of the Church have gone silent or abdicated or gone woke. Beware of false leaders in sheep’s clothing. 

Gratefully, we now see with greater clarity and can sound the alarm. More importantly, we can present such a contrast between light and darkness, good and evil, that the world is drawn like a magnet to Jesus.