Day 24

(Proverbs 24)

“Partiality in judging is not good.” (24:23b)

This is a great word of wisdom and an awesome warning to us all…

Do not be partial in your judgements

I guarantee we fall into this more that we realize.

It happens when a person we do not like does something at work against us.  Without even a conversation with them, we allow our minds to formulate an alternate reality that makes them the “bad evil person” we believe them to be.  When we are partial to them being bad we make judgements based on that view.  The sad thing is they may have done the right thing, but we will never know that because we will not have an open conversation with them about what is bothering us.  We are scared of that open conversation not because of the tenseness of it but because we do not want to consider another option that would cast a better light on their character.

It happens in school when your child comes home and gives you their side of the story and you immediately blame the teacher.  “How could they do that to my child.”  So you strike out at the teacher because you are partial to your child and as a result you played the part of a fool because you never really investigated the issue to find out what really went on.  If you had… umm… you may have found out your child didn’t give you the whole story…

of course your child would never do that… only someone else’s…

and that is partiality.

Partiality is taking a side on any issue while not having all the facts but thinking you do OR it is making a judgement when you have all the facts but have chosen to ignore them because you refuse to believe them or are acting in the best interest of your reputation.

The funny thing is…. everyone that will read this post struggles with this… if you think you don’t, that proves my point…

and I say that impartially.

“Partiality in Judgement is not good” here some reasons why…

He who ever takes a side and sticks to “they are right and the other party is wrong” regardless of the facts (they may or may not know) needs to realize everyone around knows the truth no matter how it’s “partially” spun. (24:24)

But he who looks at all sides, (knows all sides of an issue and gets to the bottom of it in a biblical way) will find peace, satisfaction and delight when the issue is settled in the right way with the right answer. (24:25)

He who goes to his neighbor before he makes a judgement and speaks with him about the issue openly looking for his neighbors point of view will never saying things against him that is untrue and will refrain from lying (For sometimes we lie while believing in our hearts we are telling the truth.  That’s the poisoned fruit of partiality)  (24:28)

He who looks for justice without speaking to his neighbor first,( in order to figure out what really happened concerning the issue) has taken a road of despair fueled by pride. And stands on lies rather than the truth. (24:29)

Why?

Because ” Partiality in Judging is not good” and that is a great word of wisdom to us all.

What did you see in the passage today?