So in the journey with God there's stones and rocks and hard places, the resentments and bitterness just surface in our life. How do they surface? They're seen by how we respond when pressure comes on us. You know I'm talking about someone next to you aye? [Laughs] Tell them: listen up, this is for you. Okay then, let's just move on. Now you're getting the picture on that one. Now let me just go through. Here's the thing; your heart determines how you see and interpret life. Your heart determines how you see and interpret life. Think about this, your heart determines it. It's not what happens to you, it's how you interpret it, and how you respond to it. That's what determines what happens to you, and so in Proverbs 17, Verse 20, it says: the one who has a deceitful heart finds no good. Deceitful means distorted or twisted or crooked or perverted, so if our heart is not right, we don't see right. We can be as smart as we like, but we still don't see right, if there's something wrong in our heart. The Bible says for example in 1 John 2, it says: if you've got hatred in your heart, hatred, you can't see where you're going, and you keep tripping up.
You have relational issues you can't figure out, but you have a reason why they're like that, and that reason usually means, you've judged someone else as being the cause of the problem. But the real problem lies in the heart. Deal with the heart stuff. Let it come up, let it come out. Let God help you and heal you. Notice what Jesus says in Matthew, Chapter 7. Look what He was here. He says: judge not, do not judge. Do not judge. Do not judge. Don't judge. Judge not, because - why is that? You will be judged. Now there's something about judging that creates problems for us. The moment you enter into judgement, you start off a cycle of suffering for yourself, and we'll explain that in just a moment. Now with what judgement you judge, you'll be judged, so if you're harsh with people hey, they're going to be harsh with you. The measure you use will be measured back. In Luke, Chapter 6, it says: not only do you get it back, it comes around. What goes around comes around. The problem is, it comes around, and you get more of it than you expected, more of it than you gave out.
Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and don't consider the plank or beam in your own? How can you say to your brother ooh, you've got an issue? Let me remove the issue from your eye - but however, look, there's a huge beam in your own eye. Hypocrite - first, first priority, remove the plank from your own eye, and you'll see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Well that's a great thing aye? So judge means to make a decision. It means to call into question someone's motives, make a decision what they are, pass judgement, and then sentence them. So whenever we look at situations or people, and we make a judgement: this is why that took place, this is why they did that, we now have made a judgement, and in making a judgement, you set yourself up higher. You notice in a Court, if you've ever been to Court - I suppose there'd be one or two people here been to a Court. You go to a Court, you notice the judge sits higher than everyone. When you become a judge, you seat yourself higher than everyone. I wouldn't do that, I'm actually in charge here judging; and you're down there, you're the condemned, and here's the list of accusations against you. I find you guilty!
That's what judging is, it's a heart issue. See judging, now here's one of the things. You notice Israel was very quick to judge. It is true in life, that if you have been through many painful experiences in your past, or have suffered abuse or wounding, the question you tend to ask constantly is: why? Why did they do that to me? And now, that you've asked why, you're going to enter into a process of judging. You'll come to some conclusions. Here's your conclusion: oh, they must hate me; or men will always do that to you; or women will always be like that; or I must be a bad person - judge yourself. Or God must dislike me and hate me. You notice the question 'why' triggered off all of those judgements? When you have experiences in life, we often don't know why they happen. Why is not a good question to ask? We should actually observe the situation, and ask the question: how do I handle this? What do I need to do? How can I make good choices in the middle of this, because once you start asking why, you're going to start to judge.